Having reached
\nits 20th edition this year, HOP Young Actor’s Gala organised by the
\nRomanian Theatre Union UNITER has grown into more than just a competition. It
\nis a forum to discuss acting, as a profession, and an opportunity for young
\nactors to take part in invaluable professional meetings. The 21 young
\nprofessionals chosen this year by a preliminary jury to take part in the
\ncompetition held between September 4 and 7 in Costinesti, had a chance to
\nattend 4 separate workshops, suggested by the artistic director of the Gala,
\nactor and professor Miklos Bacs, which were held in Bucharest and Costinesti
\nbetween August 31 and September 7. Veniamin Filshtinsky, an acting professor
\nwith the St Petersburg Institute of Performing Arts, the Romanian director
\nAlexandru Dabija, highly appreciated for the way he works with his actors, the
\nGerman director and writer Stephan Perdekamp, the author of PEM – The Perdekamp
\nEmotional Method, and Andrei Flaviu Falcusan, an expert in kinetotherapy and
\nmotricity, were invited to run the workshops.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Many young
\nactors and former winners of the Gala seem to converge on the idea that
\nprofessional training workshops are necessary. Actress Mirela Oprisor, winner
\nof the award for best actress at the Sarajevo Film Festival for her part in
\nTuesday, after Christmas by Radu Muntean, also won the best actress award at
\nthe 2002 HOP Gala. In her opinion, 15 years on, the Gala gives a lot more
\nsupport to young actors:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
tr I saw a
\nRussian professor, and not just any Russian professor, who came here to teach.
\nThey have a workshop with Dabija. We didn’t have that back in the day. So I
\nthink this Gala has made a progress. I wish I had met Mr. Dabija when I was
\nyoun. It’s also very nice of him to do this, especially since he is very
\nrelaxed and gives confidence to the people around him. And yes, we needed this.
\nBut we were in the early 2000, when everybody was looking for a path.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Actress Cosmina
\nOlariu has graduated this year from the I. L. Caragiale National University of
\nTheatre and Cinema Arts in Bucharest, and is the winner of the Stefan Iordache
\naward – the grand prize of the HOP Young Actor’s Gala:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
These
\nmeetings are quite important and I would like to thank Mr. Miklos Bacs for this
\nexperience, which on the one hand was draining, but on the other hand full of
\nwonderful things. The meeting with Perdekamp was an experience that I for one
\nwill certainly not forget. The idea is that he discovered a technique based on
\nthe fact that each organ is tied to a specific emotion, and by becoming aware
\nof a particular organ you can feel that emotion. The reactions were absolutely
\nfabulous. I was on the verge of a panic attack, because the emotions and the
\nenergy that you feel is amazing. The meeting with Mr. Dabija was also very
\nimportant. It is not a common thing for an established director to be willing
\nto really meet young actors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Over the past
\nfew years, the HOP Gala, organised by the Romanian Theatre Union, has opened up
\ntowards the world of cinema. The jury that selected this year’s winners
\nincluded Ada Solomon, the producer of films like Child pose, Aferim!,
\nScarred Hearts and Toni Erdmann. Here is Ada Solomon on the role of the
\nGala in the young actors’ career:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This is
\na high-profile event and it helps young actors a lot. My advice to them: be
\nhonest and confident. But honesty to oneself is the most important. And trying
\nto find the resources that would reveal them, to find the strength to look at
\nthemselves in the mirror. I believe direct interaction, this kind of
\nnetworking, is very important in all arts, and so is the possibility to talk
\nabout a show right after seeing it, to understand how others have seen it, to
\nunderstand someone else through such discussions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As an
\nanniversary edition, the 20th HOP Gala brought to Costinesti many
\nformer winners of its awards. Mariana Mihut, one of the most highly respected
\ntheatre and film actresses in Romania, went there to support young actors once
\nagain, and told us how she saw the role of this Gala in 2017:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It is
\nmore than important. And it is equally important for experienced actors like
\nme, who can see that the tradition of Romanian theatre is taken on. Tonight I
\nhave been very proud of and impressed with how well trained they are, with how
\nmature they are, a lot more so than we used to be at their age. They are more
\naware of what they want, and more focused on that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
During the same
\nedition of the Gala, the idea was born of setting up a club similar to the
\nfamous New York drama school, the Actors Studio. Here is actor Ion Caramitru,
\npresident of UNITER, the one who came up with this idea:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I’ve
\nbeen thinking about setting up HOP Club and bring together all these people who
\nhave taken part in the Gala and have won awards. Because all those selected to
\nattend the Gala make up an elite group. So we talked about this, about putting
\ntogether this club as part of UNITER, with certain rules, with a certain number
\nof meetings, with specific activities suggested by the Union or by themselves.
\nSince UNITER runs on projects and programmes, club members would be able to
\nsuggest programmes and projects. I have been thinking about it and I think this
\nis a good time to do it if we want to do it well.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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