Category: World of Culture

This year, the city of Timisoara is European Capital of Culture, on which occasion it hosts a whole range of cultural projects as the most important city in the region in Banat, many of which are related directly to the city, its people, and its history. One such project, about the people, history, and multicultural character of the place is the documentary Timisoara – European Capital of Multiethnic Living, directed by city local Florin Iepan, who has a list of over 40 documentaries and TV productions. The documentary presents the city through the eyes of Norwegian Christo Balthazar, grandson to journalist and writer Jahn Otto Johansen, author of the book Romania: a Collection of Articles, who was decorated by the Romanian president for his contribution to the image of Romania in Norway.

We spoke about this project, its concept and its context, with cultural PR manager Anca Spiridon:

“The Metropolis Cultural Association is not at its first try in promoting multiculturality through art, because it has been supporting cultural and art manifestations since 2011, such as the International Youth Film Festival, BalKaniK Arts & Culture Festival, which was the first Balkan music and culture festival in Romania, also, in 2015, right here in Timisoara, the minority film festival, the Nomad International Film Festival. So that, in this moment of extraordinary importance for Timisoara, it is not surprising that we will host the premiere of this documentary film, Timisoara – European Capital of Multiethnic Living, which is a new attempt to promote multiculturality through art and traditions. The film has as a starting point the story of Christo, grandson to the famous Norwegian journalist decorated by the president of Romania in 2014. We are talking about Jahn Otto Johansen, author of the book Romania: a Collection of Articles. He was decorated for his improving of Romania’s image in Norway, and Christo, in this documentary, will trace his grandfather’s journey, and the movie will present the new realities through his eyes, but also through the eyes of the documentary director Florin Iepan, a local. In the context in which Timisoara is the 2023 European Capital of Culture, the documentary plans to emphasize the richness and diversity of cultures, both in Europe and in Timisoara, to emphasize the common cultural traits of Europeans, and to make citizens aware of their belonging to a common cultural area, and to facilitate the development of cities through culture. The film wants to document interactions, and their contributions to social, political, economic, and cultural life of the main ethnic groups in Timisoara. The film wants to reconfirm this multicultural tradition in Timisoara, and to strengthen its image as a functional multiethnic and multi-religious center. The film also discusses traditions and customs, but also the new local businesses of those who settled in Timisoara in the last 20 or 30 years. It will emphasize Serbian food, Rroma crafts and music, Hungarian theater and literature, but also the new businesses in the Italian and Turkish communities. By promoting multiculturalism, both in art and traditions, by facilitating this inter-cultural dialog that we want to have between the main ethnic communities in Timisoara, through the wider public that will watch this movie, the documentary wants to increase understanding and acceptance of diversity, developing the reception of this cultural diversity in a grand exercise in empathy.

We asked Anca Spiridon what the stages of the project are, and if the documentary can be watched on both big and small screens:

“In March, the movie will start its production stage in full. After research in the field, the filming sessions will begin, then comes the post-production stage, and the plan is to have the premiere of the film in Romania between July 28 and 30, in Timisoara, of course. The larger context for this launch will be as part of a three day festival outdoors, which will include film screenings, Q&A sessions, as well as debates on minorities and cultural exchanges, including the topic of migration and immigration, and a traditional product fair. We want this documentary to be a part of the classical cinema distribution network in Romania, but also part of special festivals and events. We would glad for a wide audience to watch the documentary this year, and, after the movie is screened in cinemas, it will become available on online platforms both in Romania and Norway.

Director of photography Tudor Platon made his debut as film director with the documentary House of Dolls at the Sarajevo International Film Festival. The production had its local premiere at the Transylvania International Film Festival. Tudor Platon is one of the most prolific DOPs in Romanian cinema. In 2016 he was nominated to the Gopo Awards Young Hope category, for the film All Rivers Flow into the Sea, directed by Alexandru Badea. He was also nominated in 2022, in the Best Debut and Best Documentary categories, for House of Dolls, a film about friendship and hope. The film features actresses Viorica Crăciun, Ileana Crăciun, Elena Laslu, Ana-Maria Bondar and Aura Chindea. Tudor Platon is the films director, scriptwriter and DOP, whose editing is signed by Natalia Volohova Deliu. Carla Fotea, Ada Solomon, Tudor Platon and Alexandru Solomon are the films producers.

When he started filming his grandmother and her four friends, who were on a holiday on the Olt Valley, Tudor Platon did not think about making a film. He only wanted to spend time with his grandma, Cica and get to know her better. The five ladies, all aged over 70, were sure that the young man filming them would lose interest and go back home. Tudor Platon:Its true, I wasnt interested in making a film but only in spending time with them, especially with my grandmother, Cica, whom I did not know so well back then. That week brought us closer together in a very intimate way. We have been sharing a lot of things ever since, something which would have been unthinkable before. Just like many other people, I was raised by my grandparents. It wasnt grandma Cica who raised me, but my other grandma, who had died two years before I started shooting what would become House of Dolls. So I needed to get closer to Cica, to fill the void inside me. I think she had the same need too, because she had also been rather shy in showing her feelings up to that point. So when she told me she was about to go on a trip with her friends, I said I would come along. This trip they are making is already tradition and they do it every year. It is a holiday during which they isolate themselves from the world, which I think helps them go back in time, to any previous moment of their lives. They feel very young and that is perhaps because they have been friends for 50 years. From what one of my grandmothers friends, Elena, told me, after we got to know each other better, they through I would get bored and leave after two days. But their relationship with me, talking about this closed universe they build for themselves when they go on their yearly trip, became very strong due to the fact that they regarded me as a kid. In fact, this is how they called me, « kid ». Maybe they were right. Maybe I managed to capture this candor of theirs precisely because I was very young and because they allowed me to film them exactly as they were not thinking I would make a movie. That was not my plan at all at the moment, the only thing that I wanted being to have beautiful memories with my grandma.

The need to become a director came naturally, as Tudor Platon says : “I felt the need to be also a director but I had not made any clear plans yet. At the time, I only wanted to capture people on camera. I have always needed that, as I see myself as a storyteller. I like to capture some emotions on film, and this is what I do when Im shooting somebody elses movies. When I only world as a DOP, I focus on image, but when I also direct, I tell a story with all the tools I have.

Tudor Platon studied image at the National University of Theatre and Cinema in Bucharest. During university years, he worked as camera assistant and DOP on shorts such as In the House (2014) and Pipe, sex and omelette (2017), by Ana-Maria Comănescu, All rivers flow into the sea (2016), by Alexandru Badea, 4:15 PM End of the world (2016), by Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru, both presented in Cannes, and also Private party (2016) and Black clothes (2017), by Octav Chelaru. Tudor Platon was also the DOP of the film Christmas present (2018), by Bogdan Mureşanu, shortlisted for the Oscars in 2020. The most recent film he worked on as DOP is a documentary by Alexandru Solomon. As director, Tudor Platon is working on a new documentary about his family. (EE)

Between Revolutions, the film directed by Vlad Petri, will be presented in the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival, held over February 16-26. The film mirrors the lives and destinies of two women, Maria and Zahra, one from Romania, the other one from Iran, two friends and colleagues at the Bucharest University of Medicine in the 1970s. In 1979, when political change in Iran became possible, Zahra returned to her country, taking part in the revolution there. For the next 10 years, their only way of communicating was through letters. Framed by two revolutions, their words describe women’s struggle to be heard, societies undergoing radical change and a friendship that could not be broken. Director Vlad Petri used archive images and documents, but also elements of fiction, which led to the creation of a hybrid feature film, a mixture of documentary and fiction. For me it’s a film about the recent past, which resonates very strongly with the present reality. It is a film that presents a subjective history, seen by two women, the history of two countries and societies thousands of kilometres apart which experienced new political systems, where people were gradually crushed by repressive political systems. The film resonates with the protests of the past few months in Iran, where women have been fighting for their rights and for a just society, just as they did in 1979, says director Vlad Petri.

Vlad Petri: “I would start from what I said about the current protests in Iran. I actually started working on this film three years ago, at a time when there weren’t many protests under way. It is a coincidence that now, at the time of the films release, some of the most impressive protests in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, if not the most impressive protests in the entire Middle East, are under way. I also talk about the fact that the first revolution ever led by women is under way in Iran as we speak, which is incredible for that region. As for my interest in political topics, it’s true, I’m very interested in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and Ive also travelled to Iran and other countries in the region. The discussions I had with my mother, who was a medical student and who told me about students from the Middle East who attended university courses in Romania, also played an important role. I was born in 1979, the year of the Islamic Revolution. Somehow, this story was built on several layers and I found connections, similarities, but also differences between the Islamic Revolution and the anti-communist Revolution of 1989 in Romania. And I found it somehow interesting to test this terrain and to discuss hopes, optimism, and the desire for radical change. Because both revolutions led to some radical changes, and I still think they are perhaps the most important revolutions of the last century.

The letters presented in the film are written by Lavinia Braniște and are inspired by letters from the archives of the former political police and the poems of two important writers from Romania and Iran – Nina Cassian and Forugh Farrokhzad. Writer Lavinia Braniște: When I started working on the project, Vlad had a clear story in mind, which also included an exchange of letters between the two main characters, so he gave me enough data. We didn’t know each other, so his proposal was a complete surprise for me, it was something that took me out of my comfort zone, so to say, because I had never worked on a project like this before. I was flattered and scared at the same time but I accepted his proposal with great, great joy. I had to go through quite a long period of documenting before I started writing, because the Islamic Revolution was a topic I knew almost nothing about. We were always in contact with each other and discussed a lot during every stage of the project. My mother also graduated from the university at the end of the 1970s, so I also knew some stories from her, related to that period. And I still have some memories myself from the 1980s, so I also had common points with Vlad and we built this story together, of which, at the end, only a little bit remained. But overall, working on the film was a continuous process and a very interesting experience.

The Romanian feature film Intre revoluții/Between Revolutions is one of the 28 titles selected for the main programme of the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival, from over 2,000 films from around the world. In the same section, Mammalia, Sebastian Mihăilescu’s debut in fiction film, was also selected. In fact, many filmmakers and many projects from Romania are participating in the Berlinale this year. Actress Judith State was selected in the European Shooting Stars program, and the Berlinale Talents Workshop, organized annually during the festival, hosts five young filmmakers: director and actress Alina Șerban, actress Ioana Chițu, distributor Oana Furdea, film critic Dora Leu and sound engineer Marian Bălan. Also, the Export Only project by producers Ada Solomon and Carla Fotea is present in the Berlinale Market, Spy/Master, an HBO series written by Adina Sădeanu was selected in the new Berlinale Series program, editor Cătălin Cristuțiu is on the jury for short films, and Radu Jude is in the jury of the official competition. (EE)

Victor Brauner (1903-1966) and
Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1957) are the two most important Romanian cultural
and artistic figures to enjoy strong international recognition. Victor Brauner was a Surrealist painter,
sculptor and poet, while Constantin Brâncuși is widely acknowledged as the
founder of modern sculpture. Two extensive exhibitions are dedicated to these
two outstanding artists in Timișoara, the Romanian city which this year is
holding the title of European capital of culture. The first exhibition is
called Victor Brauner: Invention and magic and is held between 17th
February and 28th May, while the second, entitled Constantin
Brâncuși: Romanian sources and universal perspectives is held between 30th
September this year and 28th January next year.

We had a talk with Ovidiu Șandor,
the president of the Art Encounters Foundation, a co-organiser of the events,
about these two exhibitions and the Art Encounters Biennale, which is taking
place in Timișoara between 19th May and 16th July:

The Art Encounters Foundation is
partnering with the National Art Museum and the French Institute to take part
in the European Capital of Culture programme. It’s a very ambitious programme,
with lots of extraordinary events in all areas. As far as our foundation is
concerned, it is involved in the staging of the Victor Brauner exhibition, the
first real retrospective of this artist in his home country, where he is
unfortunately too little known, something we’re hoping to change. Many of the
works on display are on loan from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and others are
brought over from various museums around the country. I think this exhibition
will give the public an opportunity to rediscover this Surrealist artist who is
very important internationally. A Romanian Jew, his life was marked by the
Second World War, and judging by what happens today, his life story is still
relevant. The next event is the Art Encounters Biennale, which is already in
its 5th year. This year’s special edition will be looking at the
relationship between art and technology in an exhibition organised by the Swiss
curator Adrian Notz. While the other two exhibitions are dedicated to
well-known artists, the Biennale is the kind of event that focuses on the
contribution of the young generation of artists from Romania and from eastern
Europe and of international artists whose work encapsulates today’s trends, the
way we relate to art, to technology and to everything around us. 30th
of September will see the opening of the Brâncuși exhibition, the first
retrospective dedicated to the sculptor in Romania and Central and Eastern Europe
in the last 50 years. It will bring together, to Brâncuși’s home country, his
later works on loan from museums such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Tate
Modern in London and the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice, alongside some of his
early works, many of which can be found in museums across Romania, such as the
National Museum of Art in Bucharest and the National Museum on Art in Craiova.
This exhibition is also organised together with the National Museum of Art in
Timișoara and the French Institute.

Ovidiu Șandor also offered more
details about the content of the exhibition dedicated to Victor Brauner:

The Victor Brauner exhibition
will bring together many works, mostly paintings, as he was best-known as a
painter, as well as drawings. The works date from the time he lived and worked
in Romania, especially in Bucharest, in the 1920s and 30s, when he was one of
the most important artists of the avant-garde movement in the capital city, as
well as from the time he lived in France, from the 1940s until his death in the
1960s. So, the works will cover his
entire career. The exhibition also features some of his sculptures and an
interview with Victor Brauner on film. Visitors will be able to see some of his
most famous works, including his self-portrait with an injured eye, as if
foreshadowing an event that would happen in real life a few years later, when a
friend injured his eye during a bar fight. This kind of premonition is very
much in line with the Surrealist philosophy, according to which there’s a
hidden relationship between reality and unreality, between life and dream and
between fact and magic.

Ovidiu Șandor also unveiled some
of the surprises of the big Constantin Brâncuși retrospective:

The exhibition will feature a
significant number of sculptures, both early works and works he produced later.
Curated by Doina Lemny, the exhibition explores Brâncuși’s transformation from
a young artist who leaves Romania imbued with the local tradition and culture
and who arrives in Paris, where he discovers on his own an impressive
international world. The exhibition highlights the transformation undergone by
his works to reach those refined forms of universal significance. Apart from
his sculptures, visitors will be able to see a considerable amount of
photographs taken by Brâncuși, with photography being an element of his work
that is little known and appreciated in Romania. At some point, Brâncuși
discovered photography and began to take photos of his works in his studio,
spending a lot of time carefully positioning them and waiting for the right
light to take pictures of them in various positions and various combinations of
bases. In my opinion, Brâncuși teaches us in these photographs how to look at
his sculptures. The exhibition will also contain drawings by Brâncuși,
correspondence with friends from Romania, as well as videos, both footage
filmed by the artist himself and by other important artists of the day showing
Brâncuși working.

The Suțu Palace, within the Bucharest Municipal Museum (MMB), presents to the public a new exhibition of paintings, drawings and art objects, entitled The Village World in Romanian Painting. Works by some great artists await their visitors. Among them are Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907), considered the greatest national painter, Theodor Aman (1831-1891), the founder of the modern art school in Romania, Camil Ressu (1880-1962) , Ion Țuculescu (1910-1962) and others. Deputy director of the Bucharest Municipal Museum and the curator of the exhibition, Elena Olariu, gives us details about the theme of the village in Romanian art: The exhibition at the Suțu Palace, The Village World in Romanian Painting, has a new approach this time. This is a recurrent theme in Romanian art. Even Theodor Aman, with whom we are opening the exhibition, also focused on it, although he was an aristocrat, to say so. However, the Romanian village of the 19th century had starting to come to the attention of the intellectuals, the elite. In Romania, the idea of ​​searching for a national specificity was also emerged, as aligning with Western culture posed a big question to the Romanian cultural elite. What will happen to our identity? We were in the 19th century, the century of nationalities and this world of the village was very well represented in art. Moreover, and this is also very interesting, foreign artists who came from the West were less interested in the Romanian cities, which did not really resemble the Western ones, but were fascinated with the village world. During the communist period, however, peasants were painted in the light the authorities wanted and this distorted their image. So we now try to bring it to its natural place.

As a host but also a curator, Elena Olariu gave us a short tour of the exhibition and told us more about it: “We start with painting by Aman, a splendid winter work, and we see two peasants carrying two large barrels of wine. These carts with oxen, which appear later in Grigorescus works, are in fact extraordinary vehicles that transported precious goods, food, wines and all the harvest that the peasants collected. And they were very interesting, because the peasants wore these beautiful costumes, the men who accompanied the carts and who protected them from thieves. They were very valuable. Peasants went to fairs and they carried weapons with them. So it was an extraordinary show. Many people do not understand why Grigorescu painted these carts. He did it precisely for that, for the beauty of it. We don’t see it anymore today and perhaps we don’t understand Grigorescu that well. These paintings are highly important documents today, not to mention the artistic value of a work by Grigorescu. One other work is entitled La Bărății. Brății was actually an inn at the junction of several roads. Grigorescu, who didnt want to stay in the middle of a road all day waiting for a cart to pass, used to go to a junction and waited there for the carts to come. We see Grigorescu’s classical themes illustrated in the paintings exhibited here and we will also see a Shepherd with sheep. And we know that children, generally teenagers in the villages, used to take the herds to pastures. It was a custom that some of our grandparents and parents still remember. But even if this custom is lost, it will remain in these extraordinary paintings.

Elena Olariu also told us about folk objects and other names from among the exhibiting artists: We will also see works by Vermont, by Arthur Verona, who continued the tradition of painting the village. We will see the fairs where the peasants used to go. Fairs were important. Why were painters fascinated by the traditional village? Because there they found color, they found highly artistic images, they found light. Therefore, we must get rid of the prejudice that the world of the village and the village in general was only a communist theme. This is completely false. The first hall of the exhibition, as you will see, has nothing to do with the communist period. … We have a special showcase brought from the Macovei Museum, the Ligia and Pompiliu Macovei Art Collection.

Why did I bring it? Because it is a folk art collection. Ligia Macovei and her husband had an extraordinary collection of folk art. A part of it was donated to the Romanian Peasant Museum and another part is in the Macovei House. We invite you to visit it, because there you will see beautiful art, but also these extraordinary folk objects. From the 19th to the 21st century, the artists’ workshops have been full of folk objects. Artists have been collecting folk items. They like their color, line, creativity. All Romanian artists collected these folk objects and we thought of emphasizing this idea through these items. In the second hall, I would first of all note the works of Camil Ressu. At one point he was looking for that Romanian specificity which, of course, he could only find in the Romanian village. And there are two masterpieces of Romanian art, at least.

Men of Deeds, the most recent feature length movie by Paul Negoescu, had its international premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival. It recently won the Golden Atlas Grand Prize at the International Film Festival in Arras, France, and the special jury prize at the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. This dark comedy was selected for 17 festivals, and Iulian Postelnicu, main protagonist, has already got two prizes for his acting: the International Film Festival in Cottbus, Germany, and the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. The movie came to theaters in Romania on November 25, and the team that made the movie was present for screenings in several cities, meeting the audience in Bucharest, Bacau, Botosani, Brasov, Cluj, Iasi, Focsani, and Piatra Neamt. The movie stars Iulian Postelnicu, Vasile Muraru, Anghel Damian, and Crina Semciuc, went to many premieres in many cities to meet the audience. Men of Deeds tells the story of a policeman in the countryside who dreams of having an orchard of his own and a tranquil life, in a place in which only the well-to-do make the law, but a series of unforeseen events lead him into a terrible bind. It was written by Radu Romaniuc and Oana Tudor, and was shot on location in Botosani County, featuring Iulian Postelnicu as the middle aged policeman, faced with major decisions. The Jury of the Namur Francophone International Film Festival, which granted Postelnicu their award, motivated this decision as follows: ‘It is a film that was unanimously lauded by the jury for its actors, but especially for its leading actor, who amazed us, just like the set design, the script, and the commitment. We appreciated this movie for its unparalleled dark humor, which has the power to make us discover a country, a region, a culture, while staying universal, and which we believe will drive the audience to laugh, will spark emotion, and cause questions for all who will have the opportunity and pleasure to watch it.’

Iulian Postelnicu graduated from the main theater and film art school in Bucharest in the acting section, under famous actor Dem Radulescu. He wrote scripts for three different television shows, and got two prestigious Gopo prizes, for best actor in the movie Arrest, by Andrei Cohn, and for best original script for Unidentified, written together with director George Bogdan Apetri. He is very selective with the roles he takes on, and said that he opts for composition parts, and that the role of Ilie, the middle aged policeman who has to take major decisions, was a challenge for him:

“Once you play a protagonist, you can develop it further, give more as an actor, you can spread your wings. The character can get more nuance, while a short part cannot allow you to develop more. I am not interested in just any protagonist, because, considering that we live in Romania, the money doesn’t make it worth the effort, the energy that it takes to act in a leading role. I am saying this because acting is my profession, not a hobby, acting and writing are the two activities by which I make a living. This is the reason for which I think like this.

Iulian Postelnicu did some serious research in order to interpret the policeman in Men of Deeds. One of the challenges, according to him, was to gain the accent from the region of northern Moldavia, from Botosani:

“The idea was to recall my accent from Focsani, my city of birth, and then change it slightly to get it closer to the one in northern Moldavia. I practiced a lot, I tried to grant Ilie this local color. That, of course, was not the only stakes, because Ilie is not a character that you can reduce to the way he talks. Of course, the dialect helps a lot with the character. What I loved was the script, when I read it first, I could just picture Ilie and visualize the action. The story was plausible and had humor, also because of the way the characters talked. I don’t think the public abroad will perceive these nuances, but I think that for the public in Romania it is a touch that helps with the comedy. Also for research I read legislation, I read about the Police Academy, about the routine of cops in the countryside or small towns, I wanted to know more about orchards. I found many recordings and press reports on the Internet, which helped me form a pretty ample image about the character I played, the research helped me a lot.

Co-starring in the movie with Iulian Postelnicu were Vasile Muraru, Anghel Damian and Crina Semciuc, with supporting roles from Oana Tudor, Daniel Busuioc, Anne Marie Chertic, Radu Ghilaș, Cezar Amitroaei, Lenuș Teodora Moraru, Alexandra Vicol, Ioan Crețescu, Petruț Butuman, Marius Rusu, Bogdan Horga, Gheorghe Frunză, Irina Mititelu, Andrei Stehan, Vitalie Bichir, Cătălin Mîndru and Delia Lupașcu.

Men of Deeds is produced by Papillon Film and Tangaj Production from Romania, in collaboration with Screening Emotioins of Belgium, and another Romanian company, Avanpost Production.

The Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest recently opened a special exhibition, The Svesani Treasure: the Gold of the South Danube Dacians. It resumes the history museum cooperation in archaeology between Romania and its neighboring Bulgaria.

The Svestari Treasure, located in northeast Bulgaria, was discovered in November 2012 in the tumumuls necropolis of a fortified city, built in the 6th century BCE. We spoke about this collaboration with the manager of the history museum, Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu:

“After a gap of 45 years, the Romanian National History Museum and the National Archaeology Institute and Museum in Sofia resumed their collaboration. This year in April, a grand exhibition was opened in Sofia, at the institute museum, on the weaponry of Thracian elites. On this occasion, the Romanian National History Museum and the Institute of Eco-Museal Studies in Tulcea were present with rich exhibitions with pieces from the princely tomb in Agighiol, dating back to the 4th century BCE. In reply to this exhibition, in Bucharest we opened a wonderful exhibition with pieces from one of the royal tombs in Svestari. This exhibition is part of a larger theme, because the Romanian National History Museum opened the exhibition called Dacia, the Last Frontier of the Romans. Together with the Historic Treasure, together with the copy of Trajan’s Column, this exhibition of gold pieces from the Getae area south of the Danube, this is a valued addition, allowing the visitors to know a special aspect of the Getae arts and civilization, who were part of the Thracian world, just as the Dacians. We thought that the best place for these superb gold jewelry would be the Thesaurus. Meaning that the exhibits form Svestari should be next to their cousins uncovered in Romania.

We asked Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu what the public can expect from the exhibition, what is special about the treasure, and what made this discovery extraordinary:

“I would start with the site, this is one of the largest centers south of the Danube. Bulgarian archaeologists and historians, and many of our Romanian colleagues, believe that this city was Helis, the capital of warlord Dromichaites. We believe that this is the site of events described by Diodorus of Sicily, the meeting between Dromichaites and King Lysimachus and his sons, after their defeat in battle. All around this site, in the middle of wonderful surroundings, we have a tumulus necropolis with large size tumuli. One of these was researched by Bulgarian archaeologist Diana Gheorghiev, and they had amazing luck. They found a situation which is rare to come across in our business. Within the casing of the tomb there was a natural relic, a giant ancient oak. For Indo-Europeans, the oak was a tree consecrated to a father of the gods figure, like Zeus. In the branches of the oak they found a wooden casket, containing both women’s jewelry and pieces of horse tackle. The tumulus was a tomb with a stone structure, and a chamber with a vaulted ceiling, which was a major innovation for the late 4th century, early 3rd century BCE. What we know for sure is that two people were buried there, and they had a connection with the treasure. For the first time, archaeologists were able to document the fact that a royal tomb was built around a sacred tree. Therefore, the place itself became sacred, and the people buried there were placed under the highest possible protection of the father of the gods. The treasure, as the visitors can see, consists female jewelry, diadems and bracelets decorated with mythological and fantastic animals, such as griffins and lion heads. We also have pieces of horse tackle. So we have, on the one hand a feminine offering, and on the other, a masculine offering. From all we know right now from royal tomb discoveries, it seems very clear that these were Thracian elites, be they at the mouths of the Danube, in Agighiol, be they in the Wallachian Plains, at Peretu, and many other places. However, these two discoveries are special, it shows that they believed in life after death, which continued with the same elements as their earthly life. In their earthly life, they were warlords, and the horse was part of their royal presence. This nameless king put in gold decorations for his favorite horse, and his wife put in jewelry. Certainly, you could not face the gods without such an obvious mark of the social position you had on earth than gold decorations.

We asked the manager of the Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest what is unique and valuable about the treasure found in Bulgaria:

“These were crafted in Greek workshops in the best ancient tradition, because by the 4th century, the Getae had been in contact with the Greeks for a long time, and had borrowed important elements of Greek civilization. They certainly appreciated these high craftsmanship pieces. As we can see, they adorned kings. They were not for just everyone, and it is not very often to see such a discovery in a museum such as ours. This treasure from Svestari did not travel much abroad. The exhibition will be available to visitors until June. The encompassing exhibition, Dacia, Last Frontier of the Romans, which is on the same theme, will be available to the public until late May, because in June it is going to Italy, at the Roman National Museum, as part of a very important exhibition.

Christmas is, to most Romanians, one of the most important holidays of the year. The Christmas spirit seems to have remained the same for centuries. In the old rural communities, customs have remained almost unchanged. Sabina Ispas, head of the Constantin Brăiloiu Institute of Ethnography and Folklore in Bucharest, tells us more about it: Preparations for the festive days are completed on December 23rd. The 12 festive days start on Christmas day, December 25th and end on January 7th, with the celebration of St. John the Baptist. On the 23rd, sometimes on the 24th of December, children go caroling. This custom opens the series of ceremonies and rituals dedicated to the winter holidays. In traditional communities, a very important moment is the men’s band caroling, a ritual that integrates the community, each family and each member of a family within the sacred time of the Birth of Jesus. There is a special repertoire for this ritual of integration, which mentions the house and all its inhabitants, each of them taken separately, starting with the father, the head of the family, his wife and the children, from the eldest to the youngest. There are also carols for the dead, if anyone in that house died during the past year. Carolers are rewarded with gifts, among which cakes and wine.

Maramureș is probably one of the few regions in Romania where Christmas traditions have remained largely unaltered by urban influences. Delia Suiogan, an ethnologist with the North University of Baia Mare, explains: Christmas in Maramureș is particularly beautiful. It is marked by wonderful rituals, which are related to the preparation for Christmas, the three holy days of Christmas, and also ceremonies marking the end of this holiday. This is important, because each stage has very well-preserved rituals, and failing to perform any of them cancels the effect of all others. The Christmas Eve plays an almost more important role than the Christmas day itself. On Christmas Eve, there is a big celebration in the villages. The most important meals are prepared and everybody is fasting. In fact, it is very important not to eat at all on Christmas Eve, for purification, which will bring good health for the entire next year.

Christmas dinner is at the center of the celebration of the Nativity in all Romanian communities. Before tasting the special dishes, the family kneels for prayer. After dinner, all those present leave the table at the same moment, in sign of deep spiritual communion. Groups of young men go caroling, with lit torches. Delia Suiogan: Also on Christmas Eve, women make sure that the braided bread, made especially for this occasion, is ready and is placed on the table around which carolers will sing. Under the Christmas bread, the greenest, best hay, cut especially for such holidays, will be placed. The cakes that will be offered to carolers must also be ready. Men will bring the nuts and apples from the attic. The house must be decorated and the table moved to the middle of the room. According to a beautiful ritual from Maramures, the legs of the table, placed in the middle of the room, are tied with a chain. This is done so that the coming year will be whole, and the family will be united. It is also believed that this ritual also protects farm animals from disease and thieves. Children are the first to go caroling. In Maramureș, the groups of kids include both boys and girls. The relationship between them is very important, because they will not go caroling on one street alone, but also on the streets where members from the group have relatives and friends. On Christmas Eve, caroling is allowed as early as noon, and children are very well received by the hosts.

Very often, the period before Christmas turns, especially for city dwellers, into a shopping marathon. But most important of all is that Christmas is the perfect time to make things right, make peace with everybody and strengthen relationships, for a new beginning. (EE)

Christmas is, to most Romanians, one of the most important holidays of the year. The Christmas spirit seems to have remained the same for centuries. In the old rural communities, customs have remained almost unchanged. Sabina Ispas, head of the Constantin Brăiloiu Institute of Ethnography and Folklore in Bucharest, tells us more about it: Preparations for the festive days are completed on December 23rd. The 12 festive days start on Christmas day, December 25th and end on January 7th, with the celebration of St. John the Baptist. On the 23rd, sometimes on the 24th of December, children go caroling. This custom opens the series of ceremonies and rituals dedicated to the winter holidays. In traditional communities, a very important moment is the men’s band caroling, a ritual that integrates the community, each family and each member of a family within the sacred time of the Birth of Jesus. There is a special repertoire for this ritual of integration, which mentions the house and all its inhabitants, each of them taken separately, starting with the father, the head of the family, his wife and the children, from the eldest to the youngest. There are also carols for the dead, if anyone in that house died during the past year. Carolers are rewarded with gifts, among which cakes and wine.

Maramureș is probably one of the few regions in Romania where Christmas traditions have remained largely unaltered by urban influences. Delia Suiogan, an ethnologist with the North University of Baia Mare, explains: Christmas in Maramureș is particularly beautiful. It is marked by wonderful rituals, which are related to the preparation for Christmas, the three holy days of Christmas, and also ceremonies marking the end of this holiday. This is important, because each stage has very well-preserved rituals, and failing to perform any of them cancels the effect of all others. The Christmas Eve plays an almost more important role than the Christmas day itself. On Christmas Eve, there is a big celebration in the villages. The most important meals are prepared and everybody is fasting. In fact, it is very important not to eat at all on Christmas Eve, for purification, which will bring good health for the entire next year.

Christmas dinner is at the center of the celebration of the Nativity in all Romanian communities. Before tasting the special dishes, the family kneels for prayer. After dinner, all those present leave the table at the same moment, in sign of deep spiritual communion. Groups of young men go caroling, with lit torches. Delia Suiogan: Also on Christmas Eve, women make sure that the braided bread, made especially for this occasion, is ready and is placed on the table around which carolers will sing. Under the Christmas bread, the greenest, best hay, cut especially for such holidays, will be placed. The cakes that will be offered to carolers must also be ready. Men will bring the nuts and apples from the attic. The house must be decorated and the table moved to the middle of the room. According to a beautiful ritual from Maramures, the legs of the table, placed in the middle of the room, are tied with a chain. This is done so that the coming year will be whole, and the family will be united. It is also believed that this ritual also protects farm animals from disease and thieves. Children are the first to go caroling. In Maramureș, the groups of kids include both boys and girls. The relationship between them is very important, because they will not go caroling on one street alone, but also on the streets where members from the group have relatives and friends. On Christmas Eve, caroling is allowed as early as noon, and children are very well received by the hosts.

Very often, the period before Christmas turns, especially for city dwellers, into a shopping marathon. But most important of all is that Christmas is the perfect time to make things right, make peace with everybody and strengthen relationships, for a new beginning. (EE)

Men of Deeds, the most recent feature length movie by Paul Negoescu, had its international premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival. It recently won the Golden Atlas Grand Prize at the International Film Festival in Arras, France, and the special jury prize at the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. This dark comedy was selected for 17 festivals, and Iulian Postelnicu, main protagonist, has already got two prizes for his acting: the International Film Festival in Cottbus, Germany, and the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. The movie came to theaters in Romania on November 25, and the team that made the movie was present for screenings in several cities, meeting the audience in Bucharest, Bacau, Botosani, Brasov, Cluj, Iasi, Focsani, and Piatra Neamt.

The movie stars Iulian Postelnicu, Vasile Muraru, Anghel Damian, and Crina Semciuc. Men of Deeds tells the story of a policeman in the countryside who dreams of having an orchard of his own and a tranquil life, in a place in which only the well-to-do make the law, but a series of unforeseen events lead him into a terrible bind. It was written by Radu Romaniuc and Oana Tudor, and was shot on location in Botosani County, featuring Iulian Postelnicu as the middle aged policeman, faced with major decisions. We talked with Paul Negoescu about the challenge of directing someone else’s scrip, with a story taking place in a northern village.

“It was hard to persuade me, because the script seemed very much outside of my sphere of interest. This was mainly because the action takes place in a remote village in the north of Moldavia, where I was only for a short time, as a tourist. More than that, I never had relatives in the countryside, I never lived there. But because Radu Romaniuc insisted that I read the scrip and direct it, on the second reading I realized that what interested me in this movie was the protagonist. I realized that I was interested in this character, the way he is built, and that the entire background of the story, the place where the action is, is in fact just a stage I had to document. So I finally conceded to direct the script by Oana Tudor and Radu Romaniuc, because I realized that what interested me with this character was to be able to talk about him even if the story was in a universe that was unknown to me. And the policeman Ilie, played by Iulian Postelnicu, is not necessarily a negative character as much as he is nuanced, he has his good side and his bad side, and it is easy to identify with him, because he is very human.

Men of Deeds was appreciated by both audience and critics. According to Variety, Ilie is not painted in dull colors, as a good man in a bad system, and not as an antagonist either. Rather, he is portrayed as a victim, a man ridiculously tangled into a culture of corruption, to the point where it is hard to say when and where his own impulses and principles start or end. The review also adds that only a Romanian movie would be able to make this into a funny story. Screen International writes that, just like the Coen Brothers and Tarantino, Negoescu steers his movie into the realm of western movies in their late stages, since Ilie turns into the sheriff late in turning his guns on the bad guys. Here is Paul Negoescu:

“Instinctively, the first movie I turned to for watching again when I was working on Men of Deeds was the movie Fargo, by the Coen Brothers, although I wasn’t planning to take inspiration from their movie. Things fell into place more from the script, which pushed me into this area, precisely because I was not familiar with the location where the action would be. As I said, since I am not from Moldavia, I tried to imagine an ideal universe, and I take a lot of inspiration from Coen Brothers movies, and these references probably contributed a lot to how I saw things. I think that my main contribution was, first of all, to select Iulian Postelnicu for the main role, because Iulian brought a lot of depth to this character, and a whole lot of nuance. Of course, you could have built the main character based on script alone, but Iulian managed to make it very credible. He humanized him, you can recognize yourself in him easily. Working with Iulian was a breeze, went well from the beginning, so we didn’t need a lot of rehearsal, and we didn’t need a lot of takes. As I said, everything went well, because we saw things along the same lines right from the start, starting with casting.

Men of Deeds is produced by Papillon Film and Tangaj Production from Romania, in collaboration with Screening Emotioins of Belgium, and another Romanian company, Avanpost Production.