Visual Arts Foundation

The Explorer

2013, 70 min., Romanian with English or French subtitles

The documentary presents the life and research of Emil Racovita, one of the first Antarctic explorers, a pioneer of oceanology and the founder of a new science, the bio-speleology. He created in Cluj the first Institute of Speleology in the world.

The Stone Memory

2010, 74 min., digital. Romanian with English subtitles

Iosif Demian returns forty years later to Rosia Montana, the place where two memorable films of the Romanian cinema have been shot: „Nunta de piatra” and „Duhul aurului” for which he signed the cinematography.

The Other Irina

2009, 90 minute, 35 mm. / romanian and english versions.

“THE OTHER IRINA” is a woman that Aurel discovers little by little, when it’s already too late, as she returns from abroad in a sealed lead coffin. She previously had left to work for a better future, a future dhat wouldn’t include Aurel.

A Short Story

2007, 90 min., 35mm. Romanian and English versions.

A history of the animated film in Romania, from its beginnings till 1990.

Dragus 2x40

2007, 28 min., Beta SP. Romanian and English versions

In 1929, a team led by Professor Dimitrie Gusti made the first sociological documentary in Romania, in the mountain village of Dragus. 40 years later, in communist times, another film is made in the same village. Nowadays, after another 40 years, the film authors attempt to capture the actual image of Dragus.

Life's Hard

2007, 20 min., 35mm., Beta SP. Romanian and English versions.

Short footage fiction.

The One-day Revolution

2004, 9 min., 35 mm. Romanian, Hungarian and English versions.

”The inhabitants of Paris have the apéritif, the ones of Vienna have the fanfare, the inhabitants of Ploiesti have politics…
—I.L. Caragiale

Lucy Castle Hotea

1996, 18 min., Beta SP. Romanian and English versions.

Lucy Castle, English, came as a 26 year old in Romania in the Maramures region in order to prepare her doctor's degree in ethnomusicology. She ended marrying a plain peasant: Ion Hotea (22). At present, the Castle Hotea family is in Great Britain. People say that's what Ion was after all the time, while Lucy wished to live in the village for the rest of her life.

The Zurich Chronicle

1996, Beta SP. Romanian and French version (40 min). English version (28 min).

Zurich, at 100 years from Tristan Tzara's birth, 80 years from the birth of the dadaism…

Bloc no. 103

1995, 30 min., Beta SP. Romanian and French version.

A documentary on life in Bucharest's blocks.

Life is Elsewhere

1995, 13 min., Beta SP. Romanian and English version.

A documentary about life in a convent.

Maya

1995, 25 min., Beta SP.

In Sanskrit language, Maya means illusion. A documentary about Gregorian Bivolaru and his Yoga school.

Steps Towards Tomorrow's Theatre

1995, 50 minutes, Beta SP. Romanian version.

A documentary about Andrei Șerban's theatre acting workshop held in 1994 at Arad.

The Eyes of the Earth

1995, 13 min, Beta SP. Romanian version

A film about the lakes of Bucharest.

Tonel and Vieru or About the Meaning of the Ballad

1995, 20 min., Beta SP. Romanian and English version.

A remembrance of a tragical accident a murder occured at a wedding in a shepherd village 50 years ago kept in the form of a ballade. The victim's father who ordered the ballade organizes a revenge, producing another murder.

Via Regis

1995, 62 min.,Beta SP. Romanian and English version.

A confession of King Michael of Romania, recorded in 1994 in Versoix, Switzerland. The king presents his life as a common person surrounded by his family, going back from the experience of the exile towards his childhood. A rich archive material illustrates this singular recollection.

Viperesti-Luzern

1995, 9 min.,Beta SP. English, French and Romanian versions.

A Romanian village and a Swiss town, situated at hundreds of kilometers, have populations of different confessions. The two cemeteries, presented in parallel, suggest two attitudes towards life and death.

Alarm

1994, 10 min.,Beta SP. English, French and Romanian versions.

Cernavoda, the first Romanian town where a nuclear plant is based. The authorities organized the simulation of a nuclear accident. Nobody takes into account the real threat.

Duo for Paoloncello and Petronome

1994, 27 min.,Beta SP. English, Romanian and German versions.

Paul Celan, the great German poet, spent his youth in Bukovina and Bucharest. This documentary is centered on a poetic dialogue between Celan and his friend and writer – Petre Solomon on the background of these tormented years 1940-1947.

False Alarm

1994, 11 min.,Beta SP. English, French and Romanian versions.

A nuclear alarm exercise is organized by the authorities in a provincial town.The result is a comic ritual, deprived of any conscience of the real dangers.

Lindenfeld 1994

1994, 8 min.,Beta SP. English, French and Romanian versions.

Founded by German ethnics, Lindenfeld has been a prosperous settlement. Today, there are only three inhabitants left with their hates and hopes.

Minidecalogue

1994, 10 episodes, 8-9 minutes each, Beta SP.

A fiction series with children, for children.

The Asylum

1994, 10 min., Beta SP. English and Romanian versions.

This video explores the strange universe of a midnight radio talk-show. Centered on the strong character of the Disk-Jockey who believes in his power to help people solve their problems, the film confronts him with two listeners.

The Sheep with Big Feet

1994, 10 min, Beta SP. English and Romanian versions.

A very unusual family spends her holidays every year in Romania: a couple from Netherlands have adopted handicapped children throughout the third world, giving them a better chance to live. As this would be a common situation, the fireman and his wife explain how they get along with their children from India, Ethiopia or Pakistan.

Unemployment and Noise

1994, Beta SP.

A comedy on life in a transition time. People and opinions in post-revolutionary Romania.

2 X 5

1993, 4 min., Beta SP. / Mute.

A triptych on different ways in which hands can interact.

Diary of a Provincial Puppeteer

1993, 24 min., Beta SP. English and Romanian versions.

A portrait of Calin Nemes, the youth who set the flame of the Romanian Revolution in one of the main cities. Afterwards, he was disillusioned by the post-communist society and committed suicide in 1993.

Eight Tons of Indifference

1993, 13 min., Beta SP. English, French and Romanian versions.

An ecological documentary: a group of youngsters gather the refuse thrown by tourists in a natural reservation. The results weighs eight tons.

Flames of the Dead

1993, 13 min., Beta SP. French and Romanian versions.

A documentary on an ancient ritual, combining pagan and Christian elements, that is still celebrated in a traditional Romanian village.

Shriek into the Ear-Drum

1993, 27 min., Beta SP. English and Romanian versions.

An unconventional chronicle of the Romanian literary and artistic Avant-Garde. Trying to recreate the atmosphere of those ”annees folles”(1916 — 1947), the video uses their specific means (collage, absurd associations).

The Passion of an Unknown

1993, 14 min., Beta SP. Romanian and English versions.

The portrait of a priest who has been imprisoned during the communist regime.

The Soros Foundations in Romania

1993, 29 min., Beta SP. / English and Romanian versions.

A documentary covering the activities of the Soros Foundations in Romania.

Earthcake

1992, 7 min., Beta SP. / Mute.

The preparing of an earth-cake is presented like a threatening ritual between cruelty and irony.

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