LEO RECORDS: DOAR PENTRU PRIETENII NOȘTRI/LEO RECORDS: STRICTLY FOR OUR FRIENDS

Official selection, Astra 2024


Original language: English

Subtitles: Romanian


Directed by: Ioana Grigore

Country: Romania

Year of production: 2024

Length: 70 minutes

Genre: documentary

In 1973, Leonid Samuilovich flees the USSR and lands a job at the BBC in London. Five years later, radio host Alexei Leonidov starts releasing clandestine recordings smuggled from totalitarian countries via intricate cloak-and-dagger operations. Today, 86-year-old music producer Leo Feigin sits on top of over 30.000 LPs, contemplating on the meaning of his work amidst the grim outlook of new Iron Curtains. Leo Records is a symbol of musical resistance against authoritarian regimes and a pioneer of what we now know as avant-garde.