Trailer for the documentary Botiza.
At a time when Romania is forging ties with the European Union and laying plans for rapid progress, much of the country's agriculture remains cut off from the rest of the world and oblivious to international trade. All of its energy stems from the strength of its draught animals. Botiza is one of many Romanian villages where farmers work exclusively with the help of horses, oxen and buffalo. Life there is hard for man and beast alike. Watching horses and people at work, over the course of a year, little by little reveals the inexpressible bond between them. The union envelops the entire village and the entire region in relationships depicted more by gestures and sounds than by words. Sooner or later, mechanisation and rural depopulation will erase these vestiges of bygone times, but there may be a glimmer of hope.