Actor Iulian Postelnicu

Iulian Postelnicu, main protagonist in Men of Deeds, has already got two prizes for his acting

Corina Sabău, 28.01.2023, 13:20

Men of Deeds, the most recent feature length movie by Paul Negoescu, had its international premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival. It recently won the Golden Atlas Grand Prize at the International Film Festival in Arras, France, and the special jury prize at the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. This dark comedy was selected for 17 festivals, and Iulian Postelnicu, main protagonist, has already got two prizes for his acting: the International Film Festival in Cottbus, Germany, and the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. The movie came to theaters in Romania on November 25, and the team that made the movie was present for screenings in several cities, meeting the audience in Bucharest, Bacau, Botosani, Brasov, Cluj, Iasi, Focsani, and Piatra Neamt. The movie stars Iulian Postelnicu, Vasile Muraru, Anghel Damian, and Crina Semciuc, went to many premieres in many cities to meet the audience. Men of Deeds tells the story of a policeman in the countryside who dreams of having an orchard of his own and a tranquil life, in a place in which only the well-to-do make the law, but a series of unforeseen events lead him into a terrible bind. It was written by Radu Romaniuc and Oana Tudor, and was shot on location in Botosani County, featuring Iulian Postelnicu as the middle aged policeman, faced with major decisions. The Jury of the Namur Francophone International Film Festival, which granted Postelnicu their award, motivated this decision as follows: ‘It is a film that was unanimously lauded by the jury for its actors, but especially for its leading actor, who amazed us, just like the set design, the script, and the commitment. We appreciated this movie for its unparalleled dark humor, which has the power to make us discover a country, a region, a culture, while staying universal, and which we believe will drive the audience to laugh, will spark emotion, and cause questions for all who will have the opportunity and pleasure to watch it.’

Iulian Postelnicu graduated from the main theater and film art school in Bucharest in the acting section, under famous actor Dem Radulescu. He wrote scripts for three different television shows, and got two prestigious Gopo prizes, for best actor in the movie Arrest, by Andrei Cohn, and for best original script for Unidentified, written together with director George Bogdan Apetri. He is very selective with the roles he takes on, and said that he opts for composition parts, and that the role of Ilie, the middle aged policeman who has to take major decisions, was a challenge for him:

“Once you play a protagonist, you can develop it further, give more as an actor, you can spread your wings. The character can get more nuance, while a short part cannot allow you to develop more. I am not interested in just any protagonist, because, considering that we live in Romania, the money doesn’t make it worth the effort, the energy that it takes to act in a leading role. I am saying this because acting is my profession, not a hobby, acting and writing are the two activities by which I make a living. This is the reason for which I think like this.

Iulian Postelnicu did some serious research in order to interpret the policeman in Men of Deeds. One of the challenges, according to him, was to gain the accent from the region of northern Moldavia, from Botosani:

“The idea was to recall my accent from Focsani, my city of birth, and then change it slightly to get it closer to the one in northern Moldavia. I practiced a lot, I tried to grant Ilie this local color. That, of course, was not the only stakes, because Ilie is not a character that you can reduce to the way he talks. Of course, the dialect helps a lot with the character. What I loved was the script, when I read it first, I could just picture Ilie and visualize the action. The story was plausible and had humor, also because of the way the characters talked. I don’t think the public abroad will perceive these nuances, but I think that for the public in Romania it is a touch that helps with the comedy. Also for research I read legislation, I read about the Police Academy, about the routine of cops in the countryside or small towns, I wanted to know more about orchards. I found many recordings and press reports on the Internet, which helped me form a pretty ample image about the character I played, the research helped me a lot.

Co-starring in the movie with Iulian Postelnicu were Vasile Muraru, Anghel Damian and Crina Semciuc, with supporting roles from Oana Tudor, Daniel Busuioc, Anne Marie Chertic, Radu Ghilaș, Cezar Amitroaei, Lenuș Teodora Moraru, Alexandra Vicol, Ioan Crețescu, Petruț Butuman, Marius Rusu, Bogdan Horga, Gheorghe Frunză, Irina Mititelu, Andrei Stehan, Vitalie Bichir, Cătălin Mîndru and Delia Lupașcu.

Men of Deeds is produced by Papillon Film and Tangaj Production from Romania, in collaboration with Screening Emotioins of Belgium, and another Romanian company, Avanpost Production.