The launch of the book “Sora mea din Australia. Trecute întâlniri cu
Irina Petrescu” (“My Sister from Australia. Past Meetings with Irina Petrescu”), written by
Magda Mihăilescu, takes place on Thursday, January 23, 2020, at 18:00, at the Romanian
Cultural Institute headquarters in Alexandru Alley, no.38.
The event will be attended by: Mirel Taloș,
Cristian Tudor Popescu,
Dan Nuțu,
Angelo Mitchievici and
Laurențiu Damian.
“Sora mea din Australia” is structured into few chapters:
Convorbiri,
Scrisori,
Confesiuni,
Mărturii (trans.:
Dialogues, Letters, Confessions, Testimonials). A special chapter is
O călătorie cu filmele (trans.:
A Journey with Films), with an introduction signed by the film critic
Cristina Corciovescu.
The book launch is organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with the Romanian Filmmakers Union.
The 223 pages volume which includes many unseen photographs from Irina Petescu`s life and career, was published by the Romanian Filmmakers, in exceptional graphic conditions, plasticized hard covers, album paper.
In a long interview from the “Adevărul literar&Artistic” magazine - with which this album-book begins – the actress speaks about her childhood and her adolescence years, about her growing up in an intellectual family and about the story which brought her on the big screen and then on stage. The actress speaks about the difficulty of facing a “showcase” profession, for a person who loves discretion. In different interviews that Magda Mihăilescu made in different stages of Irina Petrescu`s life and creation, the film critic succeeded in treasuring many reflections about the art that the actress embraced with great self-consciousness.
Comparing the moments from the end of her career with the ones when she was 18 or 25 when she started it, Irina Petrescu invents this metaphor of the sister from Australia quoted in the title: “It`s been many years since then, I`ve been through many trials and tribulations, I learned to approach life differently and that is why today I must admit that It would be an arrogant ingratitude not to be grateful to a certain destiny. But I don`t miss the “me” from back then, because I look at that image as at a photo of a younger sister, who lives very far away, in Australia and that I haven`t seen for a very long time. It`s not me anymore. Or, maybe all of her is inside of me, maybe that young lady found nest inside of me and I don`t want to admit it.”.
“We remember her from many films and from the parts she played on stage, but also from unusual positions, such as a very competent commentator of her own films, in a journey initiated by the film critic Cristina Corciovescu, for the Pro Cinema magazine in 1996, or that of a press correspondent for the Cinema magazine, from 1967 to 1970, when she travelled to many film festivals all over the world, from where she sent very colourful articles and information about people and places – from San Sebastian, Moscow, Paris, Hollywood, London. From the same collection of these magazines, the author selected many other refined notes about people and events and even funny life stories which replenishes her portrait and pertinently contextualize her creation acts.” the theatre critic Doina Papp says.
