2017 Gopo Awards Gala

The feature film Sieranevada directed by Cristi Puiu was the big winner at the 11th edition of the Gopo Awards

Corina Sabău, 01.04.2017, 10:57

The feature film Sieranevada directed by Cristi Puiu
was the big winner at the 11th edition of the Gopo Awards Gala, an
event venued by the I.L.Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest. Sieranevada won 6 Gopo awards for best
film, best director, best script, best actress in a lead role, best actress in
a supporting role and best editing. Selected in the official competition of the
2016 Cannes Film Festival, Cristi Puiu’s forth feature film has been well
received by the international media.

The British newspaper The Guardian
described Sieranevada as food for thought, while its author was deemed as
one of the most influential cinematic voices of the century. The film’s
action is theatrically set mainly in one modest Romanian apartment where a
large family has gathered for something between a memorial service and a wake
for Emil, who has just died. The film focuses on his eldest son Lary (Mimu
Branescu), a harassed, bearded, overweight doctor who turns up for the party
having just had a huge row with his wife about getting his daughter the wrong
Disney costume for her school play.

The family
gathering does not unfold as expected. Ana Ciontea, who got the award for best
actress in a supporting role, said upon receiving the award:

I remember the day when I auditioned for
this role. I was extremely nervous. I continued to feel that way throughout the
entire film. I want to thank Cristi Puiu, as I found myself in his film.
Sieranevada is family to me. I also want to thank each of my colleagues and
crew members, all those who voted me and gave me the opportunity to be part of
the large family of Romanian cinema.

In his turn, director Cristi Puiu, who also won the awards
for best director and best script, thanked his family and director Lucian
Pintilie:

First of all, I want to thank my wife Anca
and my girls. It’s difficult to be a scriptwriter because this requires peace
of mind and I have this at home. I also thank Lucian Pintilie, because back in
1999 he read the script that I wrote with writer Razvan Radulescu, the script
that I later turned into film, and he encouraged me. I felt encouraged and kept
on writing. I want to thank you as well.

Director Cristi Puiu dedicated the award for best
director to actor Sorin Medeleni, who was part of the cast but who died before
the film was released.

Actor
Valentin Uritescu, aged 75, received a lifetime achievement award. Boasting an
over 50-year long career in theatre and film, Valentin Uritescu has played a
wide range of supporting roles such as Sergeant Saptefrati in the TV series
Lights and Shadows directed by Andrei Blaier, the same character in Sergiu
Nicolaescu’s feature We, on the Front Lines, or Vasile in the film The
Contest directed by Dan Pita. A graduate of the Ion Luca Caragiale Institute
of Theatre and Cinema in Bucharest in 1963, he was hired by the Maria Filotti
Theatre in Braila, Eastern Romania, and five years later, he moved to the Youth
Theatre in Piatra Neamt, Eastern Romania. He was an actor at that theatre for
13 years, which he deems as the most important period of his life.

After he
had been singled out by stage director Liviu Ciulei, Valentin Uritescu
performed in the productions of the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest. His maiden
autobiographical volume That’s What I Am, a Fool was launched by Humanitas
Publishers in 2011. Two years later, his book of memoirs devoted to his father
and entitled Take Care of Your Good Nature was brought out by the same
publishing-house. In 2016, the artist’s book of memoirs Haunted by Other
People’s Lives was launched by Ars Docendi Publishers.

Here is what Valentin
Uritescu said at the 11th Gopo Awards Gala:

I was a first-year student when I made my
debut in the film A Bomb Has Been Stolen by Ion Popescu Gopo. I uttered just
one line: Let’s go!. It’s been over 50 years ever since and I have played
dozens of film and theatre roles. My third book titled Haunted by Other People’s
Lives features all the characters that I played and haunted me. As I’ve just
said, it’s been over 50 years since I made my debut in Gopo’s film and now,
with this award, Gopo has returned to me. Let me thank those who sent him to me
and let me thank you, who reward me with your applause and congratulate me 50 years after my debut.

Bogdan Mirica’s debut feature was awarded five Gopo
trophies, including the best supporting actor award, which went to Vlad Ivanov,
and the best actor award won by Gheorghe Visu. 21 films were launched in 2016;
two of them, the blockbusters Selfie69 and Two Lottery Tickets were seen by
over 100,000 spectators and had over 2 million lei worth of returns, receiving
the audience award at the Gopo Awards Gala.