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Men of Deeds (2022)

Oameni de treabă (2022)

105 min. - Crime - N 15 - 25.11.2022

Synopsis: ILIE, almost 40-year-old, is the police chief of a small village in the Northern Romania, close to the border with Ukraine. Although suspicious things are happening in the village, with the mayor and the priest being part of a cigarette smuggling network, Ilie has specialized in seeing only what suits him best: when the mayor makes him guard the place where the smuggling takes place, Ilie’s naively convincing himself nothing happens over there. But Ilie makes a mistake and this is the beginning of his narrowing world, because the moment he gets involved actively in the events, he can no longer overlook things. And it's not only about cigarette smuggling anymore. A murder takes place. In just a few days, Ilie's life faces a radical change. His illusions are shattered. In a vacuum of solutions, he tries to be what he has never been before - the justice seeker who arrests everyone. Unfortunately, this turns into a clumsy massacre with shovels and axes and firearms from which no one survives.

Director: Paul Negoescu

Writer: Radu Romaniuc, Oana Tudor

Stars: Iulian Postelnicu, Crina Semciuc, Anghel Damian


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Casting:

Iulian Postelnicu Ilie
Crina Semciuc Cristina
Anghel Damian Vali
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Produced By

Papillon Film în co-producție cu Tangaj Film, Screening Emotions, Avanpost
cu sprijin Centrul Național al Cinematografiei
Bulgarian National Film Center, Creative Europe - MEDIA & Eurimages
 

Production info

Budget: 915.000 euro
Shootings in may 2021, in the Botosani County.

Distributors

Bold Film Studio (România) / Patra Spanou (Internațional)

Festivals, Awards

  1. 2022 - LIFFE - Leskovački Internacionalni Festival Filmske Režije, Serbia - Best Director
    2022 - Namur - Best Actor (Iulian Postelnicu) & Special Mention of the Jury
    2022 - Cottbus - Best Actor (Iulian Postelnicu)
    2022 - Arras - The Trophy
    2023 - Gopo Awards - The Trophy & Best Director & Best Screenplay & Best Actor (Iulian Postelnicu) & Best Support Actor (Vasile Muraru)
    2023 - UCIN Awards - Best Actor (Iulian Postelnicu) & Best actor in a supporting role (Vasile Muraru) & Best Originale Music

Trivia

Paul Negoescu despre film:
“My interest in these characters was their inability to adapt, as they are all unable to connect with their emotions, running from reality until fate forces a reality check upon them. Males are told from early childhood how they are expected to behave and what their purpose is in life: to be strong, to dominate and to be winners. Men are not allowed to cry or suffer. They are supposed to have a family, to get married and have children, to provide for and protect their families. And Ilie doesn’t fit these expectations at all,” 
”Northern Romania, where the story is settled, is a strongly patriarchal society, as most of the Eastern Europe is. Men are told since childhood how they have to behave and what is their goal in life: they have to be strong, to dominate, to be winners. Men are not allowed to cry. They must marry a wife and have children, provide and protect their family. ILIE isn’t like that at all. He failed in all these. He failed at having a family, he is a mediocre policeman who always runs away from conflicts, he is dominated by the people around him and when he finally gets a subordinate against which he tries to act as a superior, he only manages to be pathetic. And that wouldn't be such a problem if he wouldn't consider himself a looser. But he does feel like that, as he knows nothing about being a real man. When I realized this, not only I understood Ilie in a critical way, but it also gave me a more detached perspective of idiosyncratic manhood and this is something that interests me a lot.”

Website

https://www.facebook.com/oamenidetreaba/
Men of Deeds (2022) - Photo