Rachel Taparjan’s first feature film, “Something Familiar,” premieres at CPH:DOX. It looks at personal and inherited trauma and challenges stereotypes of Romanian orphans in Western media. The hybrid documentary starts with Taparjan helping another adoptee look for her birth mother, but it quickly turns into her own search for her missing sisters and a family history of abuse.
Something Familiar looks at family ties, absence, and self-authorship as Taparjan deals with exploitation and harmful patterns that come from her Romanian background. She was adopted from Romania to England as a child. Now, she looks back at her roots and finds shocking family history that makes her question what she thought she knew. The movie uses real, trauma-informed storytelling to turn Romanian orphan stories into a “hidden antagonist,” taking over well-known media tropes.
Taparjan talks about how trauma-informed filmmaking gave her “the gift of the archetypal mother.” The Romania-UK co-production won the Cineuropa Marketing Award at the 2023 WEMW in Trieste and the top prize in Romania’s 2022 CNC Production Fund. It feels like it took “a lifetime” to make. She sits in front of and behind the camera, combining her own weaknesses with her creative strength to change her story.
Festival BuzzPremiering at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, Something Familiar highlights European docs for North American markets via Europe! Docs project. An exclusive trailer highlights its journey through trauma and bonds, and people have praised its harsh, powerful twists. This personal hybrid doc stands out among the 2026 festival circuits for how it bravely deals with the legacies of adoption and exploitation.
