Moromeții 2, the big winner of the Gopo Awards Gala

Sequel to 1987 cinematographic treatment of popular Romanian post-WWII book sweeps local film awards.

Corina Sabău, 30.03.2019, 14:40

Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time / Moromeții 2, directed by Stere Gulea, the feature film that got most
nominations at the 13th Gopo Awards Gala, won nine awards – for best
film, best cinematography (Vivi Dragan Vasile), best editing (Dana Bunescu and
Alexandra Gulea), best sound (Dana Bunescu, Cristinel Sirli, Constantin
Fleancu), best set design (Cristian Niculescu), best costumes (Dana Paparuz),
best make-up and best hair (Dana Roseanu, Iulia Roseanu, Domnica Bodogan) and best
debut (Iosif Pastina). Morometii 2
also got the Audience Award for the biggest Romanian box office hit in 2018. Morometii 2, an adaptation of the second
part of a novel by Marin Preda, was released in Romania in November. A sequel to Romanian cinema’s best-known family saga, Morometii (1987),
the film that continues the tale of Ilie Moromete and his family, sold 52
thousand tickets in over 50 towns, becoming the biggest Romanian box office hit
in 25 years. Upon receiving the Audience
Award, Stere Gulea said:

I want to thank those who helped me make this film. It
was a film very difficult to make. It was a highly expected production and, had
we failed, disappointment would have been huge. Therefore, thanks to these
people who helped me, collaborators, actors and my family a little bit, I’m
standing before you today, 32 years since Morometii
1 was released, director Stere Gulea said.

Morometii
2 is a free adaptation inspired
by the second part of the novel Morometii
entitled Life as Pray and the journalistic works of Marin Preda. The film
resumes the story of Moromete Family after WW2. The action takes place in 1945-1946,
a transition period from democracy to communist dictatorship that also included
collectivisation, the seizing of private land by the state. Unlike in Marin
Preda’s book, the director took the freedom not to make Niculae Moromete, the
youngest child of the family, a member of the communist party.

Vivi Dragan, the winner of the Gopo Award for best
cinematography, talked about the sorrow state of the home of Marin Preda, the
most important Romanian writer of the post- war period. Vivi Dragan:

Of course that all of us, who worked on Morometii 2, are very happy. But we must
not forget the author of this wonderful novel, Marin Preda. I hope that in the
audience there is also someone representing the Culture Ministry. Because I
want to tell you that Marin Preda’s house in Silistea Gumesti is in ruins. I
saw it three years ago, I’ve seen it again recently and nothing has changed.
Moreover, its legal status is unclear. My hope, on the occasion of this film
that enjoyed great success with the audience, is that someone will solve this
problem, that authorities will take the issue of Marin Preda’s memorial house
more seriously.

Tudor Giurgiu, the producer of Morometii 2, has said:

I would like to thank all those who went to see this
film and bought a ticket. We went on a crazy tour throughout the country and
for that I want to thank Stere Gulea and the actors, for making this huge
effort. We reached many towns and I can now tell you there is an audience for
the Romanian films. What’s important for us is to be able to make the kind of
films this audience deserves.

In his speech, Tudor Giurgiu also referred to the lack
of cinema halls that are in smaller number in Bucharest and are completely
missing in most towns across Romania:

It is a wonderful evening, in which we celebrate the
success of Romanian film. But I will go back to what producer Ada Solomon has
just said, the insufficient cinema halls. Today I have received an email from a
lady who works in a real estate agency and who said the Bucuresti cinema was
put up for sale and that we should invest in it, maybe turn it into a club or
bowling room. I realised that in the
last years theatres have been built, as mayors seem very willing to do it. On
the other hand, cinema halls have been shot down, and it’s only due to the
cinemas in the commercial centres that the audience gets to see Romanian films.
I would be happy to have enough cinemas, present our films, but for that to
happen we must also help ourselves by going to the polls. In any case, we must
do something to save our cinema halls, we must fight for that.

Cosmina Stratan was designated best actress in a lead role, for her
performance in Love 1. Dog, directed
by Florin Serban. The award for best script went to Radu Jude, for the film I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as
Barbarians. Apricot, directed by
Alexandru Mavrodineanu, got the award for best documentary, while Soldiers. Story from Ferentari, directed
by Ivana Mladenovici, was awarded for best debut. Christmas Carol, by Bogdan Muresanu received the award for best
short film. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to actress Ileana Stana Ionescu
and the Achievement Award to actor Constantin Dinulescu. Massimiliano Nardulli
scooped the award for best original music with Charleston.

Special awards
were also granted at the gala: one to Ion Nica, master of lights, a former
collaborator of director Ion Popescu Gopo, an Audience Award for the biggest
Romanian box office hit, which went to Morometii 2 and a special prize for
supporting the independent film production, won by the film director Dan Chisu.

The 13th
edition of the Gopo Awards Gala was organised by
the Association for the Romanian Film Promotion, together with the Film and
Urban Culture Association with the support of the National Cinematography Centre,
DACIN SARA and Babel Communications.