Premiere ”Romania: Four Countries”, by Alexandru Solomon

    The documentary made by Alexandru Solomon actually has “five countries”. The four of the writers Norman Manea, Gabriela Adameșteanu, Mircea Cărtărescuși Florin Lăzărescu and the one of the film director.
     Romania: Four Countries represents the Romanian contribution to the project “Europe of the writers” initiated by the ARTE TV Channel, in which 16 countries are involved: Belgium, Portugal, Iceland, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Ireland, Turkey, Germany, Greece, Italy, Denmark, Hungary, Spain, France and Romania. Alexandru Solomon was requested to direct a film which would reflect the image of the country through the work and life of some writers known for their works, but also for their civic attitude. The filmmaker chose: Norman Manea, whose childhood is connected to the deportation and communism and who, at the present, is a university professor in the USA; Gabriela Adameșteanu, who spent her childhood in Pitești, near the prison (where an uncle of hers was imprisoned) and who later became a book editor, writer and editor in chief of the magazine 22; MirceaCărtărescu who spent his childhood in a communist block of flats and who is nowadays a writer whose works are translated all over the world; Florin Lăzărescu, who was born in a village in Moldova, writes novels and film screenplays (Aferim!) and organizes a literary festival in Iași.
     The four writers are from different generations, they are all internationally acknowledged and representative for the Romanian intellectual elite. Their patriotism is not declarative, but included in the way they live and write.
Romania: Four Countries, Alexandru Solomon`s documentary has this fifth dimension, of the filmmaker`s personal way of seeing his own country. The film is very elegant, made with subtlety, not a series of interviews, but a puzzle, in which the four writers seem to have a dialogue between them.
Gabriela Adameșteanu, Mircea Cărtărescu and Florin Lăzărescu were present at the premiere and they talked to the audience about the way they collaborated with the director.
    Cinematography: Nicolae Cara