SOMETHING FAMILIAR

Romania, UK, 2026

89 min

Documentary

Director: Rachel Tâpârjan

Cinematography: Andrei Oană

Synopsis: 

While helping a woman search for her birth mother, a filmmaker is drawn into her own family history, uncovering a dark cloud that has long hung over its women. Through filmmaking as both inquiry and a gesture of care, she explores whether self-authorship can rewrite inherited family narratives. 

Rachel Tâpârjan

Rachel Taparjan is a British Romanian film maker and social work academic. Rachel is a senior lecturer in social work at Teesside University. 

Rachel has directed documentary short films selected for Sheffield Doc/Fest, East End Film Festival, and SEE documentary festival. She is a member of the Documentary Association of Europe. Her debut feature length documentary SOMETHING FAMILIAR has received development funding from the British Film Institute, the Romanian National Film Fund and Creative Media Europe. Rachel was selected for the CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator programme 2022 and subsequently awarded the Cineuropa Marketing award.

Something Familiar was also selected as one of the five finalists for Whickers 2024 and Presented at Cannes Docs 2025 as part of the CIRCLE Showcase of Docs-in-Progress where is won the Chicken & Egg Vision Award. Something Familiar will celebrate its world premiere World Premiere in the International Main Competition at CPH:DOX – the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival in 2026.