Playback follows Sorin Lupascu, a well-known DJ in communist Romania, in his attempt to stay visible in present day Romania. It bounces back and forth in time, through archive footage and a vivid soundtrack, subtly revealing the transformations of an Eastern European society over the last 50 years.
80s communist Romania was culturally locked out from the western civilization. Access to pop/rock music was sometimes as scarce as access to food. With no Google, Wikipedia, magazines and pictures, discos were the only place people could listen to artists banned by the communist party. DJs were the only ones who brought music to the people. Tracks were being smuggled in on vinyl or secretly recorded from foreign radios and played out in front of crowds eager to dance.Playback centers around one of the most popular DJs of that time. It is a present day portrait of a man whose journey through life gained a soundtrack of its own.
Through archive footage and present-day life pieces, Playback recreates a timeline of musical encounters that changed the face of a society from communist 80s Romania to our present-day democracy.