Category: World of Culture

  • Romanian recent award-winning film productions

    Romanian recent award-winning film productions

    Clara is a feature-length film directed by Sabin Dorohoi. A fresh production, with a strong impact, focusing on a major and necessary topic, Clara has been recently launched in theatres across the country. The film tells the story of millions of Romanians who have no choice other than go abroad to provide for their families at home, in a bid to help them have a better living standard.

    The production has come out as an absolute first in Romanian film-making industry: it is the first feature-length film tackling the topic of migration from the standpoint of the social problem posed by the children that were left behind in Romania, to stay with their grandparents or with relatives.

    The film tells the story of Clara, a teacher acting as a baby-sitter for the little girl of a family in Germany, also looking after their house, in much as the same way as millions of Romanian women support their folk at home working abroad. When her son, left in his grandfather’s care, disappears from home, in a childish attempt to reach his mother, Clara returns to her native village in Romania where she must face her failure as a mother and try to regain her son’s trust. Sabin Dorohoi.

    “The topic of the film was born a long time ago. The idea of tackling this topic came to mind in 2012, or thereabouts, when migration turned intense and I could see the phenomenon was spreading, at that time, in northern Romania as well. Also, at that time I read in the press about the case of a little boy who committed suicide because he badly missed his parents. I found that piece of news terrible, it affected me so much and I thought I should make a film about that. And that is how the short reel titled The Danube Road premiered in 2013. Then I felt the need to develop the story of the Danube Road and that’s how the feature-length film’s screenplay was born, written by Ruxandra Ghițescu.”

    „Clara” saw its world premiere in 2023, at the Cottbus International Film Festival, where it also scooped the public’s award. Awards and nominations followed, positive criticism and a warm welcoming from the regular pubic of international film festivals, such as the Kolkata International Film Festival India, South East European Film Festival Los Angeles, Internationales Donaufest Ulm/Neu-Ulm, Ceau Cinema of Timișoara, Romanian Film Evening and Bucharest International Film festival.

    Here is one of the producers of “Clara”, Dan Burlac.

    ”It is a film posing an important problem. Yet in no way did we intend to push it, to sadden people with the story in Clara, or to make a film that could get people shed tears for nothing. We sought to focus upon a key problem, a problem that has become more and more important worldwide, and not only in Romania not only in Europe. Proof of that stands the reaction Clara triggered at its premiere in India, where almost 1,000 spectators, who attended the premiere, reacted with a lot of empathy and perceived this film as a personal experience.

    That’s why I say Clara’s story is in no way linked to a certain place, it doesn’t depend on it, it is the story of all those who experience that condition and have no choice other that travel far from home, irrespective of their being from Latin America, Europe or India. I believe what’s most valuable about this film is the fact that it succeeded to remain sincere, honest, all along, and tackle a key issue with utmost attention. Since it is a key issue, we also wanted to trigger as many reactions as possible in a bid to find solutions to a problem that concerns us all.

    Since the issue of migration also takes its toll on the society we build, here it’s all about the future generation that will build Romania. It is a problem that even concerns us all, parents, grandparents, children, it is an important problem for the entire community. It is not an issue touching one level alone, it touches, as I said, all layers in society. It is our problems.

    After the gala launch in Bucharest, the film crew embarked upon a national caravan that included special screenings, where authors and actors sat down and talked to spectators, in Q&A sessions. At some of the screenings pedagogy and psychology experts took part as well, via a relevant partnership between the film crew and the Save the Children, and organization supporting the social debate “Clara “initiated, on the occasion of its launch in theatres. Sabin Dorohoi.

    ”At the screening we had in Timisoara, it was deeply touching, because I practically arrived at home. As you know, most of the actors hail from Timisoara and, broadly speaking, from Banat, save for Ovidiu Crisan, Clara’s father and Ionut’s grandfather in the film, who is from Cluj. In Timisoara, at the screening but also as part of the talks we had afterwards, the hall was packed with people, which made us very happy, while no less happy were we because of the spectators’ reactions and their otherwise very astute questions.

    However, the most interesting questions, even disputes, constructive, interesting disputes and debates, were hosted by the city of Iasi. And that did not happen by accident, since Moldavia is worst-hit by migration in Romania. Like I said, that was reflected in the large number of viewers, but also in the talks, which were very interesting. “

    The screenplay of the film was written Ruxandra Ghitescu, the director of photography was Lulu de Hillerin. The set design was signed by Anca Miron and Sonia Constantinescu. The editor was Mircea Lăcătuș, while the original movie soundtrack was written by Eduard Dabrowski. Lead role actors are Olga Török (Clara), Ovidiu Crișan (Nicolae), Luca Puia (Ionuț) and Elina Leitl (Johanna).

  • The New Year that Never Came

    The New Year that Never Came

    The New Year that Never Came, written and directed by Bogdan Mureșanu, was proposed on the list of films that will be considered for nomination at the European Film Academy awards, an event that celebrates the most important achievements of European cinema. The New Year that Never Came became the first Romanian debut feature film to win four awards at the Venice International Film Festival (including the Best Film in the Orizzonti section, the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film, offered by the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics, Bisato d’Oro 2024 Award for Best Screenplay), and took first place at the box office a few weeks after its release in Romania, overtaking major titles.

    After the world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, the film was shown in Italy and at other events. Recently, the North American premiere of the film took place, after which The New Year that Never Came found itself in the selection of the Zurich International Film Festival, and was also screened in Germany. The fiction feature The New Year that Never Came completes the story of the short film The Christmas Present, one of the most appreciated Romanian titles, with 200 international selections and 72 awards. Winner of the Best European Short Film Award (at the European Film Academy Awards gala, 2019), the Gopo Award for Best Short Film (2019), and the Best Short Film Trophies at Berlin, Clermont-Ferrand, Cottbus, and TIFF , the short film directed and written by Bogdan Mureșanu stars Adrian Văncică, Ioana Flora and Luca Toma. The action of the film takes place on the evening of December 20, 1989, shortly before the fall of the Ceausescu dictatorship, when Marius, a 9-year-old child, reveals to his parents the contents of the letter sent to Grandfather Frost, and they realize that it includes a message very dangerous for everyone’s safety. Bogdan Mureșanu tells us why he chose to continue The Christmas Present, integrating it into the multistory narrative of The New Year that Never Came.

    “I always had the impression that that short film was just a fragment of a more complex story. Ever since I filmed with Adrian Văncică, that means six years ago, it seemed to both of us that the story could be part of a longer narrative, and I, anyway, had a lot of stories in mind. And this project, the The New Year that Never Came, did not start with the The Christmas Present, but with the story of the demolition of the Uranus District. I was planning a feature film about this demolition initiated by Nicolae Ceaușescu in the ’80s, but I kept postponing this project. I postponed it because I didn’t know how to film it, because, obviously, Bucharest has changed a lot since then, and it was very hard to find suitable locations. In relation to The Christmas Present, I filmed that short story more as a test, and I was surprised by the success of the short, because in my mind it was always just a fragment. After I also wrote the film The Christmas Present, it took me some time to reach this type of multistory narrative, in which the characters meet, but without the meeting between them having consequences. The characters, as one critic who wrote about the film said, are like islands that would form an archipelago. I also thought about the fact that, if I keep debuting so late in the feature film, I should do it with something that is more complicated, and the two years of the pandemic gave me the necessary time to complicate things even more. For almost a year it was a construction site in my mind, I wrote two completely different versions of the script, there were actually two films, and in the end I opted for this one, which is maybe written in a slightly American way, but which, anyway, seems to me quite a contemporary way of telling stories, considering the success with the public and the critics.”

    One of the main roles in The New Year that Never Came, that of Margareta Dincă, is played by the actress Emilia Dobrin, performer of over 30 roles in Romanian films and series, winner of the UNITER award for the best actress. Margareta Dincă’s house, located in the Uranus district of Bucharest, is to be demolished in order to build a new block of flats. It is actually one of the last remaining houses not demolished, and Margareta has the misfortune of having to leave her home very shortly before the Revolution. Emilia Dobrin spoke to RRI about the collaboration with the director Bogdan Mureșanu and about her role in The New Year that Never Came.

    “The meeting with the director Bogdan Mureșan was extraordinary, in an instant what was supposed to be was connected between us, something very beautiful, and that’s how I ended up playing this emotional character in the film. For me, that period that the film discusses was and remains painful, very painful. I can say that both my brother and I were very marked by the injustices we experienced during communism. We came from Vălenii de Munte, we were not from Bucharest, and because of our unhealthy origins, – as they said at the time – our scholarships were suspended and our places in the dormitory were taken away. And our parents had no way to support us, those were very hard times. My brother and I were also very marked by the injustice that was done to us, and so we remained. I don’t want to make a boast out of this, but I didn’t want to be an ‘utecist’, that is, to join the Communist Youth Union, nor to be part of that yes-man system, as we called those in the party at that time.”

    Adrian Văncică, Iulian Postelnicu, Mihai Călin, Nicoleta Hâncu, Andrei Miercure, Manuela Hărăbor, Ioana Flora and Ada Galeș complete the cast of the film The New Year that Never Came.

  • The National Theater Festival

    The National Theater Festival

    The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival, hosted by theatres and various non-conventional spaces in Bucharest, turned into a true marathon of performances and many other cultural events. The theme of this edition was “Dramaturgies of the Possible” and was curated by Mihaela Michailov, Călin Ciobotari and Ionuț Sociu. The 31 Romanian performances selected for the festival – some of the most representative Romanian contemporary theatrical creations – were joined by related events, such as three performative and visual installations, 12 independent theater performances, ten educational performances, five conferences and debates, professional workshops, modules dedicated to established artists, book launches, radio theatre performances, but also a rich partner event – the Bucharest Scenography Biennale.

    At the invitation of the National Theatre Festival and UNITER – the Romanian Theatre Union -, the Austrian Cultural Forum and its partners offered a complex program offline and online, coming with new approaches to the theme of the 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival. Andrei Popov, deputy director of the Austrian Cultural Forum, tells us what the exhibition “Only the violins remained – Alma and Arnold Rosé”, the extended presentation of the development of the VR HUMAN VIOLINS PRELUDE project, written and directed by Ioana Mischie, the performance UNION PLACE – A SHORT TRILOGY, the performance HOLY HYDRA @TIMIȘOARA and the two debates about performative projects have in common.

    “The contribution of the Austrian Cultural Forum to the National Theatre Festival has grown with each edition and this year we have an extremely complex program. All these productions that I have proposed are related to a contemporary, innovative and highly socially involved way of doing performing arts, performance or theatre, and last but not least, virtual reality, because virtual reality is one of the ways in which we approached the performing arts. Always, in our collaboration with the National Theatre Festival, we take into account first of all the theme chosen by the curators of the festival. This year we set out to respond to that theme, Dramaturgies of the possible, proposed by the three curators – Mihaela Michailov, Călin Ciobotari and Ionuț Sociu.
    What interested us the most was the openness to interdisciplinarity, but also the way in which dramaturgy becomes a decisive element of the show. In addition, we wanted to highlight the existing dialogue between Romanian and Austrian artists in the field of performing arts, a field in which there is very, very much collaboration. It was our desire to show publicly, given the visibility of the festival, how much creativity there is and how much things have evolved and continue to evolve in this field of theatre and performing arts in the dialogue between Austria and Romania.”

    Artist Ioana Mischie’s project ”Human Violins: Prelude (Multi-Users Version)”, presented as part of the National Theatre festival had its world premiere in 2024 at Cannes Festival’s Immersive Competition, dedicated to virtual reality projects and as an absolute first introduced in the history of the event. ”Human Violins: Prelude (Multi-Users Version)” is an extended Virtual Reality experience, inspired from a true story, which invites us to reflect on the way we can preserve the most creative of the human legacies across the generations. Spectators watch the fictitious story of Alma, a lover of the violin, being offered the chance to play and prolong the legacy of her music.

    Ioana Mischie: “Our project represented the first Romania-France co-production in the field of VR and we hope this participation in Cannes will also represent and open invitation extended to cultural decision-makers to invest in the field. It is an absolutely wonderful domain that can become a country brand, as in Romania we have very, very talented artists, a very advanced technological community and a very advanced technological infrastructure. Accordingly, we can excel in this domain if we invest appropriately. We’ve been delighted to find out this form of art is recognized and celebrated and to know, in turn, new possible collaborators in this field. Therefore, we hope for the good news to continue and for that to be just the beginning. Yet this beginning comes after 12 years in this field, that is why we hope to use this experience and develop it henceforth”.

    The National Theatre Festival have also proposed to the public the Reading-Performances, which capitalized on varied dramaturgical formula, in accordance with the changes of today’s world, through the debate of texts from Germany, Spain, Portugal and Romania.

  • The Natural Dyes  Exhibition at the History Museum

    The Natural Dyes Exhibition at the History Museum

    The National History Museum of Romania (NHMR) presents, starting in mid-September, a new exhibition: “Natural dyes. From museum scientific research to contemporary art”. The exhibition aims to capitalize on the results of scientific research and to value natural dyes as a resource in contemporary art, to create a connection between contemporary and traditional textiles through dyes, and to capitalize on the results of interdisciplinary research by making information available to the general public. About the concept of the exhibition, we spoke with its co-curator, Irina Petroviciu, chemical researcher:

    “Through natural dyes we try to connect, on the one hand, museum textile pieces, museum heritage, so to speak, with traditional textiles and contemporary textiles, somehow making the results of scientific research available to the general public. Natural dyes are the main piece, the main concept of the exhibition. Everything is built around them. Through my concerns as a chemistry researcher, I try to study the Romanian textile heritage from the perspective of dye analysis. These studies are based on the fact that all the textiles we see in museum pieces until the late 19th century, when synthetic dyes became available, were dyed with natural dyes. Natural dyes, which can be extracted from plants, insects, fungi, mollusks or lichens, were originally used, each of them only locally. Later, some of them began to be traded, the beginning of trade being linked to historical events or geographical discoveries.”

    What does the exhibition propose, from the point of view of natural dyes research?

    With the analytical techniques available today, we can identify natural dyes and the biological source they belong to, and help place historical pieces in context based on dye analysis. In the exhibition, on the one hand, we present natural dyes, characterizing them from different perspectives, on the one hand from the point of view of the structure, of the dyeing methodology, obviously this is related to the structure. Some dyes are more stable to the action of environmental factors, others less stable in museum textiles. Obviously, we will find the most stable ones. Also, in the exhibition you will be able to see textiles dyed with natural dyes. In addition to the story of the dyes in historical textile pieces, you will be able to find in the exhibition information about the dyes from plants that we come across in our daily life, and which could possibly also be used for dyeing. These are invasive plants. They are simply plants that we have, for example in the garden, using them, picking and using them as dyes we could practically have a more beautiful garden and at the same time, some naturally colored textile pieces. They are also dyes that we have in the leftovers that are obtained from household activities. It’s about avocado seeds, berries, dyes from pomegranate peels, onion skins are very well known and many others.”

    Irina Petroviciu tells us what visitors to the “Natural dyes” exhibition at NHMR can see:

    “In a first part we have liturgical textile pieces from the collection of the National History Museum of Romania, the National Art Museum of Romania and the Putna Monastery, mainly, which were characterized from the perspective of natural dyes. Another area of the exhibition is dedicated to traditional textiles. We wanted to see, through studies made on textile pieces from Romanian museum collections, to what extent dyes were still used at the end of the 19th century. The exhibition continues with the description of several recent projects dedicated to natural dyes, and they make the transition to contemporary art. Natural dyes are present in the contemporary world, on the one hand in new traditional textiles, but on the other hand, also in the creations of contemporary artists. We have examples of this work in the exhibition. So you must see the exhibition, because it is very difficult to describe. They are works by established artists, some of whom are used to working with natural dyes, others taking it as a challenge. And, likewise, there are works by young artists at the beginning of the road, who use natural dyes.”

    At the end, Irina Petroviciu tells us when the exhibition can be visited and what other activities does MNIR propose:

    It was announced until the end of October, but will definitely be extended until the end of November. We are preparing events associated with the exhibition, and probably during November we will organize painting workshops.”

  • EXT. CAR. NIGHT, a new film by Andrei Crețulescu

    EXT. CAR. NIGHT, a new film by Andrei Crețulescu

    EXT. CAR. NIGHT, the second feature film directed and written by Andrei Crețulescu, stars four emblematic actors of the new wave who play multiple roles: Rodica Lazăr, Șerban Pavlu, Andi Vasluianu and Dorian Boguță. Consisting of three parts, filmed in sequence shots, EXT. CAR. NIGHT combines several genres and styles, building a story about how (NOT) to make a film – “A making-of with an air of absurd/postmodernist chronicle”, as the director notes. In the opinion of actor Şerban Pavlu, the film “is unique in all respects: the way it is written, edited, the cast of the film, which does several things, including my character.”

    Here is Andrei Crețulescu.

    “It’s a very Romanian film. Sure, people can say, but all Romanian films can be considered very Romanian. It’s true, but this one, although it may seem difficult or rambunctious, is also very retro, it’s also very ‘spoken word’, and that’s why I refer to this as “very Romanian”. It is a very talked about film, moreover, I have the feeling – already confirmed by the audience’s reaction, both at TIFF and at the premiere screenings – that it is a film that the Romanian-speaking audience can vibe with a little more. But obviously, when I said that it is Romanian, I did not mean that it is a film intended only for the public here. I said that it is very Romanian, because, as is already known, it is a very, very spoken word film. That’s why I think that the native Romanian audience has a huge advantage over viewers who are forced to read the subtitles, where you obviously lose almost half of the meaning of the dialogues. It’s also a difficult to impossible film to market, because no matter how much you want to put your finger on it, and say it fits into this genre, any possible classification will be wrong from the start, because there’s no way to include practically all the steps this movie walks on, like a ball in a match, if you will. That’s why there will be viewers who will see it as a thriller, others will see it as a comedy or satire, others will detect the meta-cinematic discourse. All these definitions and framings are correct. Actually, there is no perfect definition, but there is no wrong one, so to speak. It’s several movies in one. It’s a lot of movies in one.”

    EXT. CAR. NIGHT is a bloody thriller that turns into its own “making of”, but also a conversation about film, about fear and fiction. It premiered during the Romanian Film Days at TIFF (Transilvania International Film Festival), and was recently launched in cinemas in the country.

    Andrei Crețulescu.once again:

    “Actually, initially I was planning a real thriller, a classic thriller, so to speak, a thriller with 10 characters who are stuck in a mountain cabin by the storm and who end up, for various reasons, killing each other. It was a very gory story, and sounded very good on paper as a script. But the pandemic came, and we had to rethink the whole enterprise. And beyond the pandemic, I also became a father, and I thought then that a movie in which people kill each other might not represent me at that moment. So I thought it would be more exciting, more challenging, to make a film about how a thriller is made, to make a film about some people who want to make a bloody thriller. So the original thriller somehow exists in this film, only it has a different perspective. On the other hand, I thought it would be simpler if instead of a film with ten actors in the cast we have a film with only four actors. But these four actors play about 12 characters in total. So I won and I didn’t win, so to speak. And it was much more difficult, because we somehow imposed on ourselves from the beginning this structure of composing the film from three large frames, to be cast in shot-sequence, i.e. without cutting. And that was hard for everyone on the team, except for me, let’s say. It’s hard for absolutely everyone, but at the same time it’s even more exciting because it’s more honest. With no cuts, everything that happens happens in front of you. Without cuts, you don’t have detailed shots, you don’t have close-ups. I, as the author of the film, do not condition your perspective, I do not constrain you – through editing – to whom or what to look at. You, the viewer, have a painting and you choose to look at what you think fascinates or intrigues you. That’s why the plan-sequence seems to me to be a somewhat more honest proposal in our very special relationship, director – spectator.”

    Codruța Crețulescu, Vlad Rădulescu and Claudiu Mitcu are the producers of the film, from Kinosseur, Avanpost Media and Wearebasca. The image of the film is signed by Andrei Butică, the editing was done by Cătălin Cristuțiu, the sets and costumes by Mălina Ionescu. The sound engineer is Alexandru Dragomir, and Marius Leftărache signs the sound design. Andrei Crețulescu was noted by critics in 2015, when the short film RAMONA was awarded at Cannes, in the Semaine de la Critique section. His debut feature, CHARLESTON (2017), had its world premiere in the Locarno Competition, was screened in over 30 international festivals, and was a hit with audiences in Romania.

  • Ciao, Italy! Animest 19

    Ciao, Italy! Animest 19

    After having gathered 15 thousand viewers in front of the cinema screens at the previous edition, the International Animation Film Festival – Animest, returns to Bucharest, between October 4 and 13.

     

    Italian animation is in the spotlight of this 19th edition of the festival, thus continuing a long tradition of annual retrospectives dedicated to countries that have set important milestones in cinematography over time. This year, the public will have the unique opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of Italian animation through an impressive selection of films, guests and special events, which bring to the fore both classics of the genre and renowned contemporary works. The “Ciao, Italy!” program, presented by the guest country of the current edition, is supported by the Italian Culture Institute in Bucharest and Animaphix, the International Animation Film Festival in Sicily.

     

    Mihai Mitrică, the artistic director of Animest: “We chose Italy for this year because it has a rich tradition in animated films. It is true that in recent years the Italian industry has not had the scope it had a few decades ago, but the tradition of Italian cinema cannot be overlooked. We had been planning for some time to focus on Italian animation, but we only managed to do so at this edition and we thank our colleague and friend from Italy, Andrea Martignoni, for this extensive retrospective. The retrospective curated by Andrea Martignoni, a renowned film sound designer, includes classic and contemporary Italian animation, and the three feature films chosen are representative of what Italian animation is all about: “Allegro non tropo” (dir. Bruno Bozzetto, 1976), “L’arte della felicità” / “The Art of Happiness” (dir. Alessandro Rak, 2013), awarded at the Venice Film Festival, and “Invelle” / “Nowhere” (dir . Simone Massi), also awarded in Venice.”

     

    Increasingly innovative and stylistically complex, the 12 short films included in the Romanian Competition at the 19th edition of Animest paint an overall urban picture of the local contemporary animation. The short films in this year’s selection are a mix of productions signed by students at the beginning of their journey in the field and films created by established animation artists. This year, 32 films entered the Romanian Animest Competition, a very large number that demonstrates the continuous development of this field, as a result of the constant support in the last 19 years.

     

    Animest’s impact on the animation industry in Romania can be seen directly on the big screens in this year’s selection, full of courageous approaches and original stories that focus mostly on relationships and bonding – as a couple, in the family or in the community.

     

    Mihai Mitrică, Animest director: “Every year we receive more and more Romanian animation projects, which makes us happy. Moreover, it is also about the quality of the films, which is getting better and better. This is also due to the fact that the animation school, both within the National University of Theater and Cinematography “Ion Luca Caragiale” in Bucharest, and within the film and theater faculties in Oradea, Cluj and Iași is starting to bear fruit, certainly thanks to the Animest festival. We only show the work of the animators and promote their films, the merit is of the animation schools and of course of the producers. Two of the directors returning to the Animest competition are Tudor Avrămuț and Serghei Chiviriga, who made a children’s film called TIBI. Andreia Dobrotă is also present with a film at Animest. She is a director who lives in the Netherlands and makes a film almost every year. This is an independent project, one of the many projects she is working on. I would also mention a Romania-France co-production, which is based on a Romanian story. It is a film by the French director Mélody Boulissière, whose subject is a love story during the Second World War, based on the photo collection of the well-known photographer Constantin Axinte from Slobozia.”

     

    Alina Gheorghe also returns to the Romanian Animest Competition with a new training film, “Dirty Paradise”, a metaphor about rejecting one’s self and idealizing perfection. The 19th edition of the Animest Festival proposes a series of urban white nights dedicated to the most daring of animated film lovers. Atypical stories, intense experiences, nocturnal screenings and challenging experiments come together in a sophisticated cocktail of thematic events – new and established. Trippy Animation Night returns with an unusual and electrifying collection, Creepy Animation Night gives chills to even the bravest of spectators, Erotica – The Night of Erotic Animation stimulates the imagination outside the comfort zone, and Animusic Night will once again prove that quality parties also find a place in the cinema world. Moreover, this year, the special events are complemented by a new entry, devoted to young people – Fresh Frames, a selection of animated films mostly made by teenagers in the workshops supported by the Animation Incubator during the year. (EE, LS)

  • Bestiary, a Vanner Collective project

    Bestiary, a Vanner Collective project

    The independent theatre company Vanner Collective is known for its original initiatives in the Romanian cultural space, translating burning social issues into theatre performances. Their latest project is “Bestiary. Consumer good”, co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall. The project opens the discussion about the worrying tension between teenagers’ need for individuality and the pressure to conform exerted by society and the online environment, social media.

    We spoke with Anca Spiridon, Cultural PR, about the sources of inspiration for the project:

    “The source of inspiration for the play and subsequently the show ‘Bestiary’, Vanner Collective’s newest production, were the challenges facing today’s youth, especially when it comes to their presence on social media and the pressure in terms of models of behaviour, of physical appearance and success that they propose. And so, young people, as I said, feel pressured to conform to standards that are not even theirs, are particularly arbitrary, are particularly rigid and do not allow them to express either their individuality, their personality, or authenticity, but rather force them to enter a zone of conformity.

    Nowadays, it seems obvious to me that social media creates, for people of all ages, the young in particular, a pressure to conform to certain standards, by promoting models of behaviour, physical appearance and success that are not even ours, regular people. And especially, we wanted to address the online presence and the risks that come with it.”

    Here is Anca Spiridon once again, this time telling us why Vanner Collective opted for the topic.

    “The Vanner team deemed it necessary to start this discussion, as they more often than not start difficult discussions in the projects they propose, in a bid to show to the public, especially to the younger segments, that there was a time when we all had to face the pressure of society, irrespective of the options we may have made. Whether we speak about the university study program we were supposed to pursue, or about the path along which we had to push our careers forward, or about a life style, or about our look, in particular, or about our choices in general. We wanted to create, with that project, with this performance, Bestiary, a safe space where they could express themselves, so they could see they were not all alone and, why not, to feel more comfortable in their bid to express their individuality. “

    But how did the project labelled Bestiary unfold? What were the methods used for the artistic pursuit and expression? Speaking about that is again Cultural PR Anca Spiridon:

    ”All throughout the project we held a series of workshops and focus groups with teenagers and youngsters and somehow the feedback we got from them spoke about the fact that, indeed, society seems to demand pretty much conformism from them. They have the feeling they are easier to manage, that it is better for them to be subservient, rather than express their opinions or express their personality. And that strengthened us in our belief that we started a good discussion and that we can provide a context where individuality can express itself. We used the metaphor of the sacrifice beasts, perhaps the sacrifice of the self, of one’s own personality, precisely as a departure point in our bid to explore stereotypes and conformism. The Vanner team started off from the idea that if you conform to something, you lose part of you, you lose what you can become. You lose the tribe; you lose the herd that actually belongs to you when you’re being told you need to comply with norms and standards.”

    Here is Anca Spiridon once again, this time speaking about Bestiary, the stage performance that represented the epitome of the whole project:

    „Bestiary is a stage performance based on the text of a new play written by Raluca Mănescu and Denisa Nicolae, the co-founder of Vanner Collective. It is also to Denisa Nicolae that the concept and the stage direction belong, while part of the team is made traditional collaborators of Vanner Collective, yet the team of actors featuring in Bestiary, all of them are very young actors. Through Bestiary, the Vanner Collective team sought to get closer to youngsters, to speak about their specific problems and strike up an intense dialogue with them. Also, they sought to present their own challenges to the public, who may not have experienced such challenges as they have today, with all the social media pressure, or, perhaps, they do not remember them: parents, teachers, friends.”

  • Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

    Niko Becker, Gopo Film Festival’s Young Hopeful

    28Actor Niko Becker in 2024 scooped the Gopo Award in the Young Hopefuls category as part of the Gopo Film Festival, for Dumitru, his role in the film To the North, a film directed by Mihai Mincan.
    Niko Becker began his career on stage at the German State Theatre in Timisoara. When he was 15 he featured in One Step behind the Seraphim, a production directed by Daniel Sandu.

    In 2021, stage director Eugen Jebeleanu had Niko Becker on the cast for Treplev’s role as part Tchekhov’s Seagull, a stage production that would later be included in the I.L. Caragiale Bucharest National Theater’s repertory. Niko Becker also worked with director Carmen Lidia Vidu, in The Frail Feeling of Hope, playing the part of a youngster diagnosed with schizophrenia, equally fighting his mental condition and the social stigma. Since 2023, the young actor has become the youngest member of Bucharest-based Odeon Theater top-flight troupe. Niko was introduced to the public once with the premiere of An Open House, a stage performance directed by Teodora Petre.

    Mihai Mincan’s first feature-length film, To the North, is based on a true story. The five-country European co-production tells the story of Joel, a religious Filipino sailor working on a transatlantic ship. Joel discovers Dumitru, a clandestine passenger hidden between the containers. The discovery of Dumitru puts Joel in an extreme situation that forces him to reconsider his bond with friends and faith. In director Mihai Mincan’s own words, ‘To the North is a film about fear, a film about the confidence in the other one, a film about the ability or inability to put your life in the hands of an unknown person, but also about our relationship with God.’

    We sat down and spoke with Niko Becker about his passion for acting. We started off from his role in the psychological thriller, To the North, a production that scooped the Critics’ Award as part of the Venice Biennale, Bisato D’Oro, in the Best Film category. To The North is also included in the selection of major international film festivals.

    “I perfectly got along with the team and by that I do not mean the actors alone. Since it was my debut in a lead role, I was somehow in a discomfort zone, I had many uncertainties. Concurrently, I set my own standards very high. As for the experience I had in theatre, that was helpful, obviously, yet film and theatre are different arts and things do not overlap perfectly. There is this specific difference, especially in the way it is materialized in the end, since the movie remains on the film. That puts a lot of pressure on you, as an actor, when you think that what you do on the set remains imprinted. And it is a little bit stressful, the fact that the way you act remains, whereas in theatre, even if you may have a bad evening, you have the opportunity to recreate the role. But like I said, there are always risks in theatre because we can have less inspired moments, you know.

    I rarely get out satisfied after completing a performance, I always have the feeling that it could have been better, that I could have put up a better performance. And I believe it’s only natural to want each time more because if we want less, we limit ourselves and we can no longer make headway. And, coming back to the movie, if I know that the part I play – after a series of retakes – is being shot, I succeed in using my intuition and the other qualities. It seems to me that under the pressure of the moment, in a film I can achieve more.”

    Nico Becker told us how he contoured, with help from director Mihai Mincan, the part of Dumitru, the stowaway on the ship where Joel, the Filipino, works in ‘To the North’.

    “When I prepared the part, I focused on the separate elements the character was made of. I thought what it was like to feel all the things Dumitru himself felt, like hunger, cold, being scared by loud noises etc. And I was trying to express all that through my body by means of the techniques employed by actor Michael Chekhov, which were quite helpful. I also worked a lot on the character’s psychological background. Of course, the script helped me a lot as everything starts with the script, you know.

    For me, it is essential to better understand the script, what it is all about, the circumstances, situations, the characters’ reasons and the conflict between them and the rest but also the conflict with themselves. I believe that in this way you can better understand the part you have to play, by finding out the conflict in the entire storyline and the sections making it. Having identified that, I complete the character by using my imagination and expertise.”

    One of the latest parts played by Nico Becker is that of journalist Krzysztof Zalinski in “Disquiet”, by Ivan Vyrypaev, directed by Bobi Pricop. “Disquiet”, a performance in which Nico Becker has as partner the extraordinary Dorina Lazăr is, first and foremost, “a show about the relationship between art and life, creation and creator, between love, God and everything we are trying to give a sense to (by means of faith, art or love). Just like life itself, the theatre is and causes disquiet; actually, every one of us is a mixture of disquiet, which art in all its forms is trying and maybe even succeeding in unravelling” Bobi Pricop says.

  • Anonimul International Independent Film Festival

    Anonimul International Independent Film Festival

    The best Romanian short film at the Anonimul International Independent Film Festival was designated “(In) the Circle”, by Andreea Parfenov. “WTF Luci!?”, directed by Paul Radu, is the short film to which the Anonimul Foundation awarded the “Ovidiu Bose Paştină” Award.

    The 21st edition of the ANONIMUL International Independent Film Festival, which took place in Sfântu Gheorghe, included two short film competitions – Romanian and international, a feature film competition, as well as film screenings outside the competitions, that were followed by meetings and dialogues between the filmmakers and the audience.

    The horror comedy “WTF Luci”, the result of a creative exercise by the team from 111 FILM & Entertainment, directed by Paul Radu, premiered at this year’s Transilvania TIFF International Film Festival. It also participated in the “Șerban Ionescu” Theater and Film Festival and in the Romanian Film Nights in Iași. “WTF Luci” tells the darkly humorous story of a young man, played by actor Theo Costache. On a seemingly ordinary evening, Luci receives an old chest from his relatives, and after consuming some hallucinogenic mushrooms, the night takes an unexpected turn. What follows is a series of surprising events that turn the comedy into true horror. In addition to Theo Costache, the film also stars Lavinia Pele, as Dee, and Costel Cascaval, as Uncle’.

    We spoke with Paul Radu about how the film was received, as his second short reel after OPT (2022), and about his intention to make an experimental film, using mostly horror and comedy genres.

    “For me, first of all, it was a test, because I was very curious what the audience’s reaction would be. I mean, I can say that I was satisfied with the result, but I needed, so to speak, some confirmations. And I was primarily interested in the reaction of the audience, I was interested in what feedback I get from people who have seen the film, and I can say that I was satisfied. People loved it and we got all kinds of questions from viewers. As I said before, when I started this film I wanted to play with some cinematic genres, that was my intention. Then I wrote the story, the first draft of the script, which was about two and a half pages at first. I was more interested in experimenting through images than through dialogue. There isn’t muchy dialogue in the film. Yes, that’s what I wanted, to play with some genres, to try different cinematic styles! I was lucky, obviously, to have an amazing team that supported me and believed in this madness. And I had real professionals who were close to me in this endeavor, because it was a challenge. It was a challenge mostly due to the combination of genres I chose to play with, and it could have easily become an embarrassment. What we wanted, both myself and the team, was to be able to tell this story of Luci through cinematic language.”

    The short film (In) theCircle, directed by Andreea Parfenov, is the winner of the Audience Award for “Best Romanian Short Film” at the Anonimul International Independent Film Festival, but it also enjoyed screenings at the Romanian Film Evenings (Iași), the Theater Festival and Film “ȘI” (Șerban Ionescu) and in Portugal, as part of “FEST (New Directors New Films Festival)”. Starring Ana Dumitrașcu, Ioana Flora, Ana Maria Pop, Ecaterina-Elena Lupu, the film “(In)the Circle” stars Laura, who, on a night trip, tries to escape for the umpteenth time from her toxic relationship.

    Andreea Parfenov told us what the story of (In) the Circle came to life:

    “This stage of writing was very long, the script underwent many changes. I went through a similar experience and the hardest thing was to find a way to fictionalize the story, because not all things that happen in reality are filmic and deserve to be told in these audio-visual terms. So, I had to find a formula to fictionalize this whole story that happened to me and translate it into an artistic act, that was the challenge. I was in the position of both characters, I was in the position of the character played by Ana Dumitrașcu, who has to leave, but also in the position of the friends who offer her help as much as they can at that moment, but they still need to focus on their own needs. I understood both points of view and somehow, I thought it was important to tell this story because it seems to me that we always have to pay attention to the people around us, believe them and be with them as much as we can. You have to have a lot of patience and gentleness when the people around you are going through such situations, because it is actually very difficult to break free from a vicious circle. And I don’t mean only a couple relationship, there can be all kinds of situations in our lives, situations from which it is very difficult for us to get out for different reasons, that’s why I think it’s important to be somehow more present and more aware of what happens to the loved ones.”

    During the Retrospective of the 21st edition of the ANONIMUL International Independent Film Festival that took place in Bucharest, the public was able to preview the film “Three kilometers to the end of the world”, directed by Emanuel Pârvu, selected this year for the Competition Official of the Cannes Festival, where it was awarded the Queer Palm. Recently, the film has been awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival with the festival’s grand trophy for Best Film and the Cineuropa Award. (MI)

  • ‘Amar’, an award-winning documentary film at the Astra Film festival

    ‘Amar’, an award-winning documentary film at the Astra Film festival

    Last year, the New Perspective Award at the Astra Film Festival went to ‘Amar’, a documentary directed by Diana Gavra. The film has been in theaters since March 8th. With tenacity and courage, Diana Gavra built a relationship based on trust and intimacy with the protagonists, in a bid to get closer to a group of people for whom being pickpockets was, in their own words, a way of life. “With objectivity, without sensationalism, offering the heroes space to honestly express their complicated life, this film masterfully unravels the personality of the people behind stereotypes” says the statement of the jury of the Astra Film Festival.

     

    Amar Răducanu, a young man of Rroma origin and the central character of the film and filmmaker Diana Gavra met in 2021. Amar stole an envelope with money from Diana. Diana filed a complaint with the police, and, with the help of the CCTV camera, the thief was apprehended. Amar had just been released from prison where he had been detained also for theft. He asked Diana to accept his proposal to return all the money to avoid new charges pressed against him. Diana realized that, to be able to return the money, Amar would have had to steal again. She consented to drop the charges on one condition: Amar should let himself be filmed and become a character in her documentary film. Amar said yes and so the collaboration between the two began. When the filming began, Diana Gavra, a director, lawyer, and teacher at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies – SNSPA, also had a PhD degree in Roma integration, so she had documented the subject.

     

    Making the film was a challenge for her to push her limits and try to relate to a world that was unknown to her: “Through this film I intended to shed a different light on this world and to look at things from a human perspective. I wanted to see how these people are in reality, to be able to know their problems, their emotions, their experiences, their wishes and frustrations. I managed, in the course of a year, to capture baptisms, weddings, funerals, absolutely all that happened in Amar’s life, in his family’s life and in his circle of close friends and relatives. Of course, people like us do not interact with this environment at all. We live in parallel worlds, each in their own bubble, and we have the impression that everybody thinks the same, that we can understand each other, that our world is perfect. Our worlds, mine and Amar’s, overlap only in the event of a conflict. Just as happened in 2021, he stole money from me, I filed a complaint and everything would have ended with him being sent to prison. As a matter of fact, we do not know how these people live, and they do not know how we live. They don’t even know what other life perspectives they could have, because we ourselves didn’t even think that they could lead another life. That’s why I thought that through this film I would shed light on their world, and also on our world, raising issues including social responsibility issues. It is also clear from the film that Amar was born in Bucharest, right in the center of Bucharest, on Episcop Radu street, near Calea Moșilor, but he is completely illiterate. We have debates about functional illiteracy, and we are concerned that it is very widespread. But Amar doesn’t even know how to write his name. And I wonder, how is it possible for a child born in 1986, in the center of Bucharest, to be abandoned? It is true, his family did not send him to school, this was not their model of life, but what did society do for him? I think that the statistics should have mentioned that this child did not attend school. And the question is: do we have any responsibility towards these people? In the era of ChatGPT what possibilities Amar can have, since he can’t even write his name?” said director Diana Gavra.

     

    Amar tells the stories of people who come from underprivileged backgrounds, who had addictions and grew up on the streets. He also tells the story of people who got to know first-hand the systems, legislation and conditions of detention in different penitentiaries in Europe. Some can never be integrated, others ended up being integrated into the social systems of other countries, learned to write and read, have a social life, have a home and spend their time in a constructive manner. At the time he met Diana Gavra, Amar Răducanu was 35 years old and had served 13 years in prison for theft.

     

    Diana’s proposal to make him a movie character changed his life, says Amar: “You realize I’m out of this world, I really want out of the criminal world. I have a family, I have my children, I don’t want to go to prison anymore, because I’m fed up with it. I want to be better too, have my own house. And I liked Mrs. Diana Gavra’s proposal, I wanted to see what this world that I didn’t know was like. And I really like it. When we started filming it was more difficult because I wasn’t accustomed to the camera, but then I started to like it. And eventually it all turned out well, me and my colleagues started to understand how we should move in front of the camera.” said Amar Răducanu.

     

    The documentary ‘Amar’ is a Pintadera Film and Pro Omnia Cinema production made with the support of the National Center of Cinematography. The film’s director of photography is Marius Panduru, and the camera operators are by Rareș Dima, Lóránd Márton, Ștefan Comănescu, Alexandru Mavrodineanu, Gabriel Scoarță, Andrei Petrea, Radu Strîmbeanu. The editing was signed by Eugen Kelemen and Monica Pascu. (EN, LS)

  • “Mrs. Buică”, a documentary by  Eugene Buică

    “Mrs. Buică”, a documentary by Eugene Buică

    Selected in the local competition of the 30th ASTRA International Documentary Film Festival, the documentary Mrs. Buică, directed by Eugene Buică, premiered in Romanian cinemas at the end of last year. A family flees communist Romania and gets to live the American Dream, but cannot escape the sins of the Balkan soul. Love, scandal, tragedy and the breakup of parents’ marriage, under the eyes of a son who documents everything. When in 1998 some of the members of the Buică family return for a short time from America (the adopted country) to their native country, Romania, Mrs. Buică playfully attacks her husband, making mean comments. Their son Eugene manages to capture the couple’s dysfunctionality as their marriage falls apart.

     

     

    In 2000, Eugene manages to film professional interviews with each of his parents in New York. Mrs. Buică marks an important moment in Buică’s career, which is distinguished by outstanding achievements as an actor, director, writer and pedagogue. The documentary captures images filmed over 24 years in Romania and America. Although he has worked with many actors as a teacher of acting, Eugene Buică says he has rarely met better actors than his parents. In addition, through the documentary Mrs. Buica he wanted to tell their story.

     

     

    I realized very quickly, in 1998, when I started working on this film, that these people – my parents – are loved by the camera and the camera, in turn, loves them. That is why, in a very short time, they forget that they are in front of a camera, that they are being filmed. It’s why they don’t even self-censor when they speak. They became very natural in a very short time, that’s why I said that it was like I was working with real actors, with some extremely dynamic performers, who were telling a story. I’ve been asked by people if this movie helped me in a therapeutic way but I didn’t do it for that purpose, I’m fine. The idea was to tell a good story cinematically, to make a good film. If I had found a better story then, in the late 90s, I would have made another documentary. Indeed, it is a story related to my family, but that is not why I chose to tell it. I chose to make this film because it has a dramatic effect, people laugh, people cry, that’s the idea. I wanted to tell a good story, not to bore people who come to the cinema for two hours. I think you have to give the viewers something that touches them somehow.

     

     

    Eugene Buică was born in Bucharest, and at the age of 10 he moved with his family to New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he graduated from The Neighborhood Playhouse In N.Y., where he had the legendary Sanford Meisner as his acting teacher. As an actor, he had roles in over 50 plays, films, television series, commercials. Notable stage appearances include The Sound of Music on Broadway, Coriolanus at McCarter Theater in Princeton or The Swan at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. In terms of films, we mention Glass Necktie, The Group, Merchants of Venus, Float, and most recently Jolt (with Kate Beckingsale), and as series: ER, Goode Behavior, Days of Our Lives, or Becker.

     

     

    Making the documentary Mrs. Buică, Eugene Buică tells the honest, tense story of his parents which, with all the misunderstandings and arguments between the two, he likens to a symphony.

     

     

    I thought of this film as a debt to my parents. I know it’s a risky story but I chose to tell it anyway, after all important things contain an element of risk. And I can say that I feel very good that I made this documentary, as I said, there are always risks wheter it’s theater, cinema, directing, writing, art in general. Besides, everyone will have an opinion and there will always be people who won’t like what you’ve done. But what makes me happy about this documentary is that so far, most people who have seen the film and written reviews have expressed extremely favorable opinions. And if I didn’t meet everyone’s expectations, it’s no problem, it can happen, I don’t mind that. I think it would have been disappointing to make a conventional movie that wouldn’t upset or intrigue anyone, a boring movie where my parents only talk nicely about each other. I could have done that, but it wouldn’t have been my story or their story.

     

     

    Between the years 2000 and 2019, Eugene Buică was the artistic director and founder of The Acting Corps Academy, which benefited both the American and the international community, training a number of over 4700 actors. (MI)

     

  • Radio Romania 95. Collectable Performances

    Radio Romania 95. Collectable Performances

    The National Radiophonic Theater has launched on www.eteatru.ro a new collection of sound performances, compiled on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of Radio Romania, on November 1st. The collection includes the best radio productions of all time, based on important texts of national and universal dramaturgy. The performances bear remarkable directorial signatures and are performed by important Romanian actors, who have permanently collaborated with the National Radiophonic Theatre. “Radio Romania 95. Collectable Performances” collects, on the website www.eteatru.ro, representative titles from 8 decades of theatre radio, starting from the 50s of the last century. The oldest show preserved on tape was made in 1951: “Hagi Tudose” by Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea, directed by Ion Şahighian, with Nicolae Bălţățeanu in the leading role. Here is Attila Vizauer, editor-in-chief of the National Radiophonic Theatre.

     

     

    “This play is in the new collection were bringing to radio theater listeners. Recordings are grouped chronologically, and they belong to eight decades of radio theater. We start with the 50s, years in which important actors of the Romanian theater were at the radio microphone and gave outstanding performances. One of the gretest actors of that time was Radu Beligan, who had a close connection with the radio theater until the end of his life. I remember that he was in his 90s and he still came to the studios of the Radiophonic Theater to perform roles in the shows we produced. And because we are talking about those extraordinary generations who left their mark on our culture, I would also mention Sică Alexandrescu, a famous director of the 50s, who together with actors like Alexandru Giugaru, Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, Evira Godeanu and many others gave memorable performances. The collection continues with the 60s and 70s, decades that also enjoyed formidable generations of actors. There are also the years when the great director Liviu Ciulei staged great performances, which were then taken over by the radio theater. Im thinking, for example, of “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare, an extraordinary show of the 60s, which benefits from the radio adaptation of Mihai Zira, a great radio theater director. The cast includes, among others, the great Victor Rebengiuc and Clody Bertola. It is interesting that in this show, “As you like it”, there is a monologue by Jacques the Melancolic performed by Liviu Ciulei himself, who was part of the cast. Its a collection of performances that are worth listening to because they have tremendous theatrical value.”

     

     

    Another collection recently launched by the National Radiophonic Theater is “Radio Romania 95. 95 years of Radio – 95 years of literature. Radio adaptations of world literature”. The new collection of radio performances, launched at the Gaudeamus Book Fair, includes sound transpositions of famous titles from national and universal literature (theatre and radio dramatized prose). The radio productions, based on Romanian and foreign books published in the last 95 years, are grouped in links, dedicated to the 30s, 40s, 50s. Attila Vizauer has more:

     

     

    “We wanted to be present in the extraordinary space of the Gaudeamus Fair with a radio theater collection dedicated to books, literary masterpieces created over the years. Anyone interested in listening to the radio versions of the great Romanian literary works, but also universal ones, can access this collection that was launched with the opening of the Gaudeamus Book Fair: “Radio Romania 95. 95 years of Radio – 95 years of literature. Radio adaptations of world literature”. If you are interested in discovering a radio version of the famous novel Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, you can find it on www.eteatru.ro. In the same collection, there are adaptations of the works of Lucian Blaga or Camil Petrescu, to cite a few examples. They are shows that the radio theater can offer because it has a very rich sound library and has a selection of important titles, masterpieces of Romanian and universal literature.”

     

     

    Liviu Rebreanu, Mihail Sadoveanu, Mircea Eliade, Tudor Mușatescu, Mihail Sebastian, Marin Sorescu, Marin Preda, Matei Vișniec, Ema Stere, , Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, Jean-Paul Sartre, Eugene ONeill, Tennessee Williams, Mario Vargas Llosa are just some of the authors you can find on the www.eteatru.ro platform, in original directorial visions, featuring important actors of the stage and radio theater. (MI)

     

  • Writer Nora Iuga, the subject of a documentary film

    Writer Nora Iuga, the subject of a documentary film

    One of the most successful Romanian films last year
    was Nora, written and directed by Carla-Maria Teaha. The first foray into
    documentary film-making from Teaha, who has previously worked as an actor and
    radio journalist, the film follows Nora Iuga, one of the most important writers
    in this country, who turned 93 years old on 4th January. Released in
    2023 at the Transylvania International Film Festival and also screened at
    Anonimul and Astra Film Festival, Nora creates a touching portrait of
    this charismatic writer and poet who made her debut in 1968 with a
    book of poems (Vina nu e a mea), received a number of awards from the Writers’
    Union and has remained very active, publishing an autobiographical
    novel (Hipodrom) in 2020 and another book of poems in 2023 (Fetiţa strigă-n
    pahar, Nemira).

     

     

    Shot over the course of four years, the film also
    captures Nora Iuga’s fascinating inner life as she has retained her
    youth and contagious exuberance, as well as the special friendship
    between her and the director, who accompanies Iuga at the Frankfurt
    Book Fair. We spoke to Carla-Maria Teaha about how she created
    the documentary film and the enthusiastic response of the public:

     

     

    I didn’t have a certain script in
    mind, especially for our trip to Frankfurt. From the very beginning I
    wanted the dialogue to be created by speaking freely with Nora. Starting
    from what would appear to be mere chit-chat, my intention was
    to get Nora Iuga to tell her stories, because along with other qualities,
    she is a fascinating story-teller and the camera loves her. This is why I never
    felt the need to introduce other characters that would speak about her. As this
    is my first film and I didn’t have a lot of experience in this area, I relied a
    lot on my intuition and I wanted to show Nora Iuga as I see her. I decided I
    wanted it to be a film about this Nora Iuga even if I would fail, so I based it
    on the chemistry between us and the things that I find touching about her. And
    what’s fascinating is that people were able to relate to me, to this image I
    had of her. Deep down I hoped this would happen, I hoped Nora Iuga’s charm
    would have the same effect on the public that she had on me. Moreover, I worked
    very hard on this film. I was brimming with joy at the reaction of the
    audience, when, at TIFF, the film received standing ovations after the first
    screening, on June 14 last year. People also stayed for the Q&A session,
    nobody left. And somehow that very strong impact the film had on the audience
    did not diminish at all, after the screening in theatres people stay in there a
    little longer and applaud, even though we’re not speaking about a special event
    and we are not there with them to have discussions. I am very happy because of that, I am happy
    because film had such an impact and because it has done its job, I am happy it
    touches people. I really thought it was just as normal for Nora Iuga’s fans to
    be keen on watching the film, but I am also glad that even those who didn’t
    know her or were unfamiliar with her work, fell in love with her. So many
    people told me that, having watched the documentary, they bought her books,
    searched for interviews with her, they were even looking for info about her. It
    is wonderful that, through this film, we succeeded to bring fil aficionados and
    reader together, these two bubbles somehow met, which is great, I think.

     

     

    Before becoming a writer, Nora Iuga wanted to become
    an actress, so the documentary made by Carla Maria-Teaha made Nora Iuga’s dream
    come true.

     

    To tell you the truth, I wanted
    to become an actress ever since I was in high-school. I ‘ve always wanted to
    become an actress, perhaps it is something that comes from my family, my
    parents were artists and so were my grandparents. My mother was a ballerina,
    father, a violinist, one of the grannies was an opera singer, a grandparent was
    a stage director, so I never thought of myself as taking a career path which
    was different from that of an actress. I have always dreamed of that, what’s
    most astonishing is the fact that I have never ceased to want to become an
    actress, even after the great actor Radu Beligan flunked me at the Drama School
    admission exam, telling me my elocution was not good enough. I personally do
    not think there is a problem with my elocution, other people didn’t tell me
    that either, yet I cannot question Radu Beligan either. Now, returning to the film
    made by Carla Maria Teaha, as days go by, it comes as something clearer and
    clearer to me that it was all about a miracle, a very old dream of mine came
    true just now, after a lifetime.

     

     

    Mircea Cărtărescu heaped praise on Nora Iuga’s most
    recent poetry volume. Fetita striga-n pahar is hitherto the peak
    of Nora Iuga’s poetry and one of the most powerful poetry books I have read
    recently. It is like a shrapnel exploding in your face, spreading splinters,
    shards, rough pieces of metal, of memory, of brain, of quotes, of any kind of
    stuff suitable to write on your skin the judgement of a fragmented, abused
    beauty .

     

  • Emanuel Pârvu wins Cannes award

    Emanuel Pârvu wins Cannes award

    The Romanian production Three Kilometres to the End of the World, which was selected in the official competition for the Palm d’or at the Cannes International Film Festival, won the Queer Palm, a prize for LGBTQ- relevant films. Since 2010 when it first established, Queer Palm has been awarded to some memorable productions that reflect diversity. Emanuel Pârvu was accompanied on the red carpet by actors  Bogdan Dumitrache, Valeriu Andriuță, Ciprian Chiujdea and Ingrid Micu-Berescu. The film opens in Romania at the Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj Napoca held between 14th and 24th of June. Three Kilometres to the End of the World is the final part of a trilogy that also included Meda or the Not So Bright Side of Things, Pârvu’s first foray into feature film, and Morocco. While Meda won two prizes at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2018, Morocco was selected for the San Sebastian Festival in 2021. But let’s hear from the director himself. Emanuel Pârvu:

    “It’s not a definitive ending, in the sense that it doesn’t mean that I won’t tackle this subject again. As far as I’m concerned, it can never be exhausted. The love between parents and children is the strongest form of love in my opinion and a territory that can be endlessly explored. However, I’m not sure if what I could add on the subject in the future would fit with the films I’ve done so far. I can tell you that these subjects have been very challenging, and I enjoyed them. Naturally, my concerns will remain in this area, I’m interested in the connections between people, and that’s what I will discuss in my future projects, but in a different way. The relationship between parents and children hasn’t been an easy subject, it has consumed me a lot, it kept me away at night and has haunted my inner life. After this trilogy I’m looking forward to a break. I think that also has its purpose.”

    Emanuel Pârvu directed many theatre performances before moving on to cinema, and his debut project, Sector S, was nominated for the Theatre Union awards. He is also a talented actor, creating memorable parts in productions such as Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation,  Constantin Popescu’s Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man, Dan Chișu’s Anniversary, Bogdan Apetri’s Miracle and Călin Peter Netzer’s Familiar. His doctoral thesis is about drama structures and for a few years he has been teaching at the Arts Faculty of the Ovidius University in Constanța. Emanuel Pârvu:

    “I never do two projects at the same time. I can’t concentrate on a role and at the same time direct a film. I know some do it, but it doesn’t work for me. I like focusing on a single thing and dedicate myself entirely to that project. I am also very fond of my teaching activity. Together with Adrian Titieni and Daniela Vitcu, the dean of the Arts Faculty of the Ovidius University in Constanța, we established the first and only masters programme for film acting in Romania. I think it’s important that this programme was established in a state university, and I am very dedicated to my teaching activity and my relationship with the students. Perhaps because I have a 14-year-old child, I am very interested in the next generations. We should all be aware that in the last 20 years, sports and cinema have been the only internationally successful fields to come from Romania, thanks to the likes of Simona Halep, Cristina Neagu and David Popovici and a host of film directors. That’s why I want to invest in my teaching activity, because I am interested in what happens with the future of the country. I’m interested in how young people will grow up to be, I want us not to be considered second-rate citizens good only for picking strawberries and asparagus. I am personally very proud to be Romanian and I am interested in the future of this country and its education system. I think there’s a lot of good that can be built through people, and that’s how we can develop as a society.”

    Three Kilometres to the End of the World is produced by FAMArt Association. The script is written by Emanuel Pârvu and Miruna Berescu, cinematography by Silviu Stavilă, editing by Mircea Olteanu, and stage design and costumes by  Bogdan Ionescu.

  • New films featuring actor Bogdan Dumitrache

    New films featuring actor Bogdan Dumitrache

     

    Bogdan Dumitrache, one of the most talented and awarded actors of the new wave, is the lead actor in two recent films: “Good Guys Go to Heaven”, directed by Radu Potcoava and “Three Kilometers to the End of the World”, directed by Emanuel Pârvu. The latter received the Queer Palm 2024 of the Cannes Film Festival. Since its inception in 2010, the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm has rewarded memorable films that reflect the diversity and importance of the themes addressed. The award was handed to director Emanuel Pârvu by filmmaker Lukas Dhont who also read the jury’s motivation: “A harsh and precious breakdown of a system of violence. His perspective slowly reveals the patriarchal world in which our characters grew up where the space to fully exist is made impossible by deeply rooted idea structures. In this mesmerizing film, people seem to be held by strings that pull them away from the light, until some of them begin to break free.”

     

    Along with director Emanuel Pârvu, actors Bogdan Dumitrache, Valeriu Andriuță, Ciprian Chiujdea and Ingrid Micu-Berescu also walked the red carpet. If the Romanian premiere of the film “Three Kilometers to the End of the World” will take place at TIFF Transilvania International Film Festival (June 14-24, Cluj-Napoca), “Good Guys Go to Heaven” has already been seen by the Romanian audience. In this romantic comedy, Bogdan Dumitrache plays the role of a man who dies and ends up in Paradise, on a deserted beach, where he reunites with Laura, the girl he was in love with in high school.

     

    Bogdan Dumitrache told us more about his film career, about how he chooses his roles and also about the mark that the New Romanian Wave left on him: “Good Guys Go to Heaven is a film that asks the audience some questions in an accessible, yet deep way. At the same time, it is a film that tries to bring the audience back to the theaters, inviting them to an escape from this reality that often does not suit us. I could say that it is also a film that uses an American recipe which it tries to adapt in a Romanian context. Radu Potcoava is an artist, and his film is an honest attempt to use the cinematic language to address in a pleasant way an uncomfortable and unpleasant problem like death. In terms of how I choose scripts, the first read is essential, it’s when I filter the story through my lens. It is when I understand if there are problems, if the character is coherent and his actions are normal, natural. This is the first filter I apply. When I read the script of Good Guys Go to Heaven, written by Radu Potcoava, I really liked this logic of the character, which is so alive and human. He does not want to accept that he has died, and moreover, he cannot believe that he has arrived in another world that is so similar to the one he just left. Even the mistakes, and the small understandings that can ease his situation are about the same. So I can say that this film is a nice bet to bring the audience back to the theaters, a bet that I accepted. I think that the presence of this new type of cinema that has appeared on the market – a film for the audience, as we call it – has managed to bring people back to the theaters, and I think that’s a very good thing. It is wonderful that this has been achieved, that people come to see Romanian films, it is also a very pleasant way to spend time with family and friends, so I hope we can restore this social habit of going to the cinema.”

     

     

    Bogdan Dumitrache is the winner of three Gopo trophies: in 2011 for “Portrait of the Fighter in his Youth” (directed by Constantin Popescu), in 2012 for “Best Intentions” (Adrian Sitaru) and in 2019 for “Pororoca” (directed by Constantin Popescu Popescu). For “Poroca”, the actor also won the Best Actor Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The roles in “Double” (directed by Catrinel Dănăiață) and “Dog Man” (directed by Ștefan Constantinescu) brought him two more nominations.

     

     

    From his filmography of over 30 roles, most of them lead ones, Bogdan Dumitrache believes that the role in “Portrait of the Fighter in His Youth” was essential, and he says he is lucky that he was formed with the new wave of Romanian cinema: ”I find this role vital, because I rather relate to the times I played and the times I didn’t, than to the roles I had. I started acting ten years after graduating from college and in Portrait of the Fighter in his Youth  I had my first role of substance. And even though it was a supporting role, I managed to create a living and authentic character. It was also the role for which I got my first award, and after that other roles and opportunities to play and develop myself emerged, to show others what I can do. Related to the New Wave in Romanian cinema, I consider myself lucky to grow as an actor together with this movement, to be lucky enough to make a film at the very moment when Cristi Puiu’s film Stuff and Dough came out. I was very happy at that time that my friend,  actor Dragoș Bucur, was cast in the film and was involved in this new movement, which wanted to change things and really did. I am excited and grateful.”

     

    Bogdan Dumitrache is also one of the founders of the independent Apollo 111 Theater and played in the HBO productions “In drift” (2010) and “Ruxx” (2022).