In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian city of Botoşani. They demanded freedom, alluded to the democratic developments taking place in Romania’s socialist sister countries or simply called for improvements in the food supply. Mugur Călinescu was behind them, who was still at school at the time and whose case is documented in the files of the Romanian secret police. Theatre director Gianina Cărbunariu created a documentary play based on this material.
Uppercase Print is a 2020 Romanian drama film directed by Radu Jude.
It is based on the real story of Mugur Călinescu, who, in 1981, wrote a series of texts against Nicolae Ceaușescu's dictatorship on the walls with chalk and was denounced by his friends. His story is staged as Gianina Cărbunariu reconstructed it from his Securitate file; this material is interspersed with images of Romanian life taken from the National Television archive from the same period.
