Hard Times

The daughter of a Romanian freedom fighter and a public-service lawyer, Ibba Armancas draws on her past to tell universal stories from non- traditional points of view. Her first feature film, “A Bad Summer for Tomatoes,” channeled her experiences of growing up around mental illness, poverty, and unconventional communities to create a magical coming-of-age tale set on the S’Klallam Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Ibba studied writing and directing for four years in Boston at Emerson College and has worked as a writer/director on TV shows, feature films, commercials, documentaries, plays, music videos, and web series. Her original drama pilot “ANTIOCH” was a finalist at the 2016 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, as well as a finalist at the 2016 Sundance Lab, and 2016 HBO Diversity Fellowship. She’s shot documentary work internationally in South Africa, Lesotho, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Canada, and is currently being considered to direct feature narrative films in Mexico and California. Her tongue-and-cheek aesthetic is showcased in her 2013 documentary, “My Dad Can Blow Up Your Dad”. The project, meant to document and track down her long- absent “terrorist”/”freedom fighter” father, was equal parts a look into Romania’s historically corrupt politics and a deeply personal exploration of family dysfunction. Driven to innovate, Ibba mashes mythic archetypes with grungy realism to create fresh, risk-taking stories that seek to entertain while inciting conversation over past issues, present controversy, and possible futures.