Tag: Oana

  • “Interior/Exterior” – a contemporary dance show

    “Interior/Exterior” – a contemporary dance show

    Oana Rasuceanu collaborated on the
    show with the film director Iulia Rugină. The show proposes an introspective
    look into the lives of four female characters and into the world of their
    emotions and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The show is
    based on documented interviews conducted by the two artists during the lockdown
    period and proposes to the spectators a reinterpretation and an analysis of
    those emotions, of our experiences, of everybody’s emotions actually. We spoke
    with the director about the show’s artistic concept, about her vision
    translated into the show. Here is Oana Răsuceanu:




    Oana Rasuceanu: ‘Interior/Exterior’ is a show
    that talks about the existence, let’s say slightly shaken, of four female
    characters, who end up being trapped in something that we were all trapped in
    the period March to May 2020. And I am referring to the state of emergency, the
    lockdown, the pandemic, the onset of the pandemic in Romania. My thoughts about
    this show were generated by several states, bizarre states, ambiguous states,
    anxiety, questions about what it was like for us, all of us, at that time. And
    I also thought of how we can actually get back to that period, after these
    years that have passed, years which did not erase, though, the respective
    experience, but on the contrary. I have had this feeling that what these years
    that have passed did to us was to put a magnifying glass on certain types of
    scars, which, I think, everyone feels. I also think that some of us decided to
    let these scars be visible, becoming aware of them eventually, while others simply
    decided that it is better to hide these scars in a drawer and lock them there
    for good. The show kicked off from here to further convey this message and
    we eventually made it to a point where we actually realized that there is video
    that we have. And I am using the plural here, as I speak about me and Iulia
    Rugina. During the pandemic lockdown in May last year, we decided to do a
    series of interviews via the Zoom platform, as nobody was allowed to leave
    their places. So we had a series of talks with various people in our life, some
    of them close to us because we felt like documenting that unique moment, which
    none of us had experienced before. And that unrefined material proved to be
    extremely valuable and I believe its value is going to increase from one year
    to another. We used only parts of these talks and some of the interviews we got
    from women. We held talks with males and females with ages ranging from 10 to
    70 years and from all these we have chosen four females who were to become
    active characters in this show intertwined with the live performances of the
    four protagonists.




    The screenwriter, choreographer and
    director of the show has also talked to us about the four performers, their
    work and transcending emotions. Here is Oana Răsuceanu at the microphone again:




    Oana Rasuceanu: The four performers are Mariana
    Gavriciuc, Anastasia Preotu, Teodora Velescu and Eva Danciu and I started
    working with them on four scripts I have written for the 4 live female
    performances. I felt the need of a common denominator when I started building the
    moving performance of these four bodies, beginning with biographic data, states,
    thoughts, social status etc identified for each of the four. I felt that the movement and the construction
    of the movement phrases should combine the emotional and social trajectory of
    those characters until the beginning of the state of emergency. Then it was the
    process of their transformation over the two months and the moment it ends and
    when they got the false feeling they could simply resume life from that moment on
    as if nothing had happened. It was something of extreme falsity and we were quite
    captive in that moment of falsehood, which we didn’t realize at first but were
    able to see very clearly after a couple of months or years. Since then, I myself
    have been experiencing some sort of an anxiety, the need to be always on guard.
    Somehow to me, the entire period of the pandemic seems to be a big question
    mark hanging over our tomorrow. And I believe this feeling has been pervasive
    throughout the entire show because there is this uncertainty of tomorrow, you
    know, the feeling that you are in complete darkness. I tried to make this
    darkness visible, so to say, but certainly many of us and the four performers
    at that, have eventually accepted the situation and there is nothing we can do,
    so we must move on. This is the thing I have done, the thing they do, and many
    of us have done, a step ‘forward’, no matter where this forward will take us.


    (LS & bill)

  • “Occasional Spies,” a new documentary by Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu

    “Occasional Spies,” a new documentary by Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu

    The director, film producer and executive director of the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) Oana Giurgiu returns with a new documentary, after her 2015 Aliyah DaDa. Occasional spies is based on true facts and testimonies, and recreates the story of unusual espionage acts that had a decisive influence on how WWII unfolded: the story of ordinary people recruited from among young Zionists in Palestine, sent back to their home countries in Eastern Europe, including Romania, to get information on the Germans.



    The documentary premiered in 2021 and won an honorary jury mention in the Romanian section of the 2021 Astra Film Festival in Sibiu. A guest of RRI, Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu said she had spent a lot of time researching, and that the story had a starting point in a scene from her first movie, Aliyah DaDa.



    Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu: This is a story from WWII, more precisely the year 1944, a year with a lot of turmoil and unexpected changes, a year when the war seemed to be drawing to a close and solutions were being searched to find out the fate of the Allied prisoners of war in Eastern Europe. And at that point somebody in a secret service had this really bold and unusual idea, to recruit ordinary people and send them to Eastern Europe, because this mission could not have been accomplished by British or American spies, they would have been caught immediately. So this idea came up, to recruit spies from among the people who had managed to immigrate to Palestine before the war. In short, the plot of Occasional Spies is similar to a real-life version of Inglorious Basterds and I have to admit that Quentin Tarantino’s film was an inspiration for me. The story is fairly unknown in Romania and equally little known in the other countries where the events took place. Unfortunately, we are used to learning in schools about our local and national history, placed in a broader international context, but we are never told how certain political or military decisions affect the countries around us, our immediate neighbours.



    In orderto retrace the story of the occasional spies, the director Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu resorted to a series of photos made by Alex Gâlmeanu. Letiţia Ștefănescu was in charge of editing, the sound design was entrusted to Sebastian Zsemlye, and the original score was written by Matei Stratan. The film was shot in Romania, Israel and Slovakia.



    Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu: I am an occasional film director. It was the same with my first film, because I set out to tell many impressive, rich stories, which I felt deserved to be known. In this particular case, of documentaries concerning stories from the past, the problem is that the images provided by film archives, the only ones you have access to from the respective period, are rather scarce. Moreover, a war was going on, which means that the images one can use in a film of this kind are more often than not frontline footage and diaries kept by those involved. I was trying to illustrate the personal backgrounds of my characters, so I had to come up with a solution to bring these images to life, so I chose these series of photographs. It was a tremendous amount of work, which I would never do again. I have been working with the editor Letiția Ștefănescu for a long time now, and we usually share a lot of the work in a film, I cannot claim sole authorship. But with this film, I must mention all those who took part in making it. Alex Gâlmeanu, the author of the photographs, is an amazing artist, the original score was written by Matei Stratan and actually the entire soundtrack is a work of art in itself. Sebastian Zsemlye was in charge of the sound design. And I truly believe that Occasional Spies is a demonstration of what team work should be.



    The cast of the film includes the actors Paul Ipate, Daniel Achim, Ioan Paraschiv, Mihai Niță, George Bîrsan, alongside many amateur actors. Istvan Teglas, Ionuț Grama and Radu Bânzaru also contributed voiceover for the characters. (AMP)

  • April 23, 2019 UPDATE

    April 23, 2019 UPDATE

    PROPOSALS Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday rejected proposals
    coming from Romania’s main ruling political group, the Social Democratic Party,
    for the appointment of three new ministers in the cabinet led by Prime Minister
    Viorica Dancila. According to Iohannis, the nominees aren’t prepared for these
    positions and called on the Prime Minister to come with other nominees. Eugen
    Nicolicea, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, was supposed
    to replace Tudorel Toader at the Justice Ministry. The Social-Democrats
    withdrew their political support for Toader after he had refused to endorse the
    controversial emergency ordinances on amending the penal codes. Prime Minister
    Viorica Dancila has transmitted towards the presidential administration the
    resignations of the Minister for European Funds, Rovana Plumb, and the Minister
    for the Romanians all over the World, Natalia Intotero. The two are the Social
    Democrats’ candidates in the European Parliament elections in May. MP Oana
    Florea was proposed for the Ministry of European Funds and Liviu Brailoiu for
    the Ministry of the Romanians from all over the world.












    COMMITTEE A special Parliament committee on justice in the Chamber of
    Deputies in Bucharest on Tuesday approved a report on the draft amendments to
    the penal code in the form endorsed by the Senate. No opposition amendment was
    accepted. The project is to be debated and voted upon in the Chamber of
    Deputies, which is a decision maker in this case. Senators decided to eliminate
    several provisions from the initial form of the law, which had been deemed
    unconstitutional by the country’s Constitutional Court. Several provisions have
    attracted a lot of heat from the opposition, such as the reduction of the
    statute of limitation, shorter probation terms and removing the statutes of
    dereliction of duty.










    CELEBRATION The Romanian Army celebrated on April 23rd the Ground Forces
    Day. On this occasion, President Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message in which he
    underscored the involvement and valor of the land forces’ military that
    contribute to providing a climate of security and stability for all Romanians
    and to ensuring security and maintaining peace in the region and in Europe. Romania’s
    Ground Forces continue to contribute soldiers to the missions Romania
    undertakes in the theatres of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Western
    Balkans, President Iohannis underlined.












    MIGRATION In the context of migration, border security and the reform of the
    asylum policies dominate the agenda of European debates. The Romanian
    presidency of the Council of the EU is holding this week a conference entitled
    ‘Operational solutions for ensuring fluid and secure crossing of EU sea and
    land borders’. Recently, the ambassadors of the member states confirmed, on
    behalf of the Council, the informal agreement reached by the EP representatives
    and the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU on a new Border and Coast
    Guard Regulation at European level. Under this agreement, Frontex’s mandate is
    extended in the sense of continuing to assist member states in such matters as
    border protection, controls and return of people without the right to reside
    and cooperation with third countries. Europe has more than 13 thousand km of
    external border on land and almost 66 thousand km on sea, hence the need to
    secure and consolidate borders.

    (translated by bill)



  • Petreceri stelare

    Petreceri stelare

    Noapte senină de august. Pe un câmp aflat undeva pe lângă Autostrada Soarelui, la 30 de kilometri de Bucureşti, câteva persoane privesc cerul prin telescoape. Nu e nici prea cald, dar nici prea frig. Oamenii vorbesc pe un ton scăzut între ei, parcă pentru a nu tulbura liniştea nopţii. Este o petrecere stelară, una din pricina căreia nimeni nu va chema poliţia pentru a se plânge de zgomot sau de vreun disconfort.



    Oana Sandu şi Adrian Şonka sunt organizatorii acestei petreceri. Pentru ei privitul stelelor e ceva mai mult decât o pasiune. Şonka este astronom amator, coordonator al Observatorului Astronomic Amiral Vasile Urseanu” din Bucureşti şi membru al Astroclubului Bucureşti. Oana Sandu este absolventă a facultăţii de comunicare şi purtătorul de cuvânt al proiectului La stele”. De 7 ani de zile, ei le povestesc tuturor celor ce vor să-i asculte despre stele, galaxii, roiuri şi nebuloase. Cum a început proiectul La stele”, ne povesteşte Oana Sandu: A apărut din dorinţa mea şi a lui Adrian, partenerul meu în acest proiect, de a arăta locuitorilor din oraşe cerul înstelat, cerul acela pe care noi, când eram mici, îl numeam cerul de la ţară, cerul acela care din păcate în oraşe nu se vede din cauza poluării luminoase. Odată ce vezi cerul acela îţi doreşti să-l împărtăşeşti şi cu ceilalţi. Proiectul La Stele” îşi propune să adune oamenii din oraş, să-i scoată undeva, spre marginea oraşului, într-un loc întunecat şi să le arate ce se observă pe cer: stele, planete şi obiecte aflate în afara limitelor Sistemului Solar, intitulate obiecte de deep sky.”



    Ne-am propus să vă dezvăluim ce secrete ascund stelele de deasupra noastră prin metode care să vă inspire şi provoace să aflaţi mai multe. Să folosim astronomia pentru a cultiva un spirit critic, curios şi atent, dar şi ca pe o metodă inedită de a petrece timpul liber alături de prieteni, familie, colegi sau partener. Ne-am propus ca toate activităţile noastre să transmită direct sau indirect: pasiune, entuziasm, acurateţe, … şi să stârnească curiozitate, dorinţa de descoperire, inspiraţie.” Aşa sună invitaţia La stele”, postată pe site-ul proiectului. Despre cum se desfăşoară petrecerile stelare, ne povesteşte Oana Sandu: Ideal e să mergi cât mai mulţi kilometri departe de oraş, dar ca să îmbinăm cumva utilul cu plăcutul, noi ne-am ales un loc care se află la 30 de kilometri de Bucureşti. Este pe autostrada Soarelui şi n-o să-l dezvăluim, vrem să-l păstrăm secret, ca să nu se ducă lumea acolo şi să creeze lumină artificială. Când ajungem acolo încercăm să ne familiarizăm invitaţii cu cerul, să-i învăţăm principalele constelaţii care se văd în perioada respectivă, îi învăţăm cum să se orienteze pe cer după stele după care începem să facem observaţii cu telescoapele pe care le avem la noi. Începem cu lucruri mai simple, se uită la stele şi la stele duble şi apoi trecem la lucruri mai complexe cum ar fi roiurile stelare, galaxiile, nebuloasele şi în funcţie de sezon le arătăm şi planetele vizibile în momentul respectiv. În general, începem pe la 9 seara, după ce am ajuns acolo şi pe la 1-2 încheiem sesiunea. Nu oferim transport dar încercăm să-i plasăm pe cei ce vin fără maşină în maşinile celor ce conduc şi din dorinţa de a încuraja un pic socializarea. Până acum a funcţionat.



    Am întrebat-o pe Oana Sandu cum reacţionează cei ce participă la aceste aşa-zise petreceri”. Lumea rămâne mereu surprinsă când priveşte prin telescop, reacţiile sunt diverse. Copiii sunt cei ce se manifestă cel mai vocal. Mai sunt şi unii dezamăgiţi că nu văd poze ca la televizor, imaginile acelea color luate de telescoapele mari, dar noi le explicăm şi care e farmecul să priveşti tu însuţi printr-un telescop şi de ce nu arată ca la televizor: priveşti în timp, de fapt, pentru că lumina care pătrunde în telescop parcurge mii de ani-lumină până la noi şi atunci noi de fapt privim în timp.”



    Când cerul se anunţă că va fi senin, Oana şi Adrian îşi adună invitaţii. Oricine poate să participe, chiar şi copiii mai mărişori, care nu se mai tem de întuneric: Pe copiii foarte mici nu-i încurajăm totuşi să vină, e şi mediul un pic ostil, e întuneric, noi stăm pe un câmp, nu e chiar un mediu potrivit pentru copiii mici. Oricum recomandăm ca minorii să vină întotdeauna însoţiţi de părinţi. Altfel, nu. Ne motivează dorinţa de a le arăta locuitorilor din oraş ce se poate vedea pe cer şi de a împărtăşi un sentiment de familiaritate. Atunci când cunoşti cerul, oriunde te-ai duce poţi să te simţi ca acasă, ai un loc care rămâne constant. Ce priveşti deasupra capului ştii că întotdeauna aşa o să rămână. Roiurile, galaxiile şi nebuloasele întotdeauna sunt acolo.”



    Aşadar, dacă doriţi să aflaţi sub ce constelaţii trăim, cum se alege un telescop şi cum se montează, care este treaba cu zodiile, cum se formează stelele, încotro se îndreaptă Universul, o petrecere stelară e un bun început. Pe Oana şi pe Adrian, gazdele petrecerii, îi găsiţi lastele.ro