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).