”Miracle”, a new film directed by Bogdan George Apetri

The film is now screened in Romanian cinemas.

Corina Sabău, 27.08.2022, 14:00

Miracle, the latest film by Bogdan George Apetri is being screened in more than 40 cinemas in over 20 cities and towns in Romania. The film, a psychological thriller, features Ioana Bugarin and Emanuel Parvu in the lead role. After Unidentified, which last year won the trophy of the Anonimul Film festival, Miracle is the second part of a trilogy whose action is placed in Piatra Neamt, the native town of director Bogdan George Apetri. The director has been living in the US for 20 years and is a professor at the Columbia University in New York. Divided into two chapters, Miracle starts with a young nun, Cristina Tofan, impersonated by Ioana Bugarin, who leaves the monastery to go to a hospital in the neighbouring town. The second part of the film focuses on Marius Preda, played by Emanuel Pârvu, the police inspector who reconstitutes her journey step by step. His investigation leads to clues and confessions that reveal not only the truth behind Cristina’s actions, but also a possible miracle. Bogdan George Apetri told us more about the connection between the films that make up this trilogy and about how his latest film, which had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2021, was received. It was the first participation in 12 years of a Romanian feature film in the Orizzonti competition section.

Bogdan George Apetri: “It’s a trilogy, but it’s not necessarily a typical trilogy, in which films are connected to each other so that those who haven’t seen Unidentified can see Miracle and understand the story. The stories are not that connected to each other, they are rather separate. But it’s about the same universe. Some lead characters in one movie become supporting characters in the other, so I built the trilogy as three separate films in terms of narrative but I included all of them in the same universe. I came up with this idea while reading Balzac’s The Human Comedy, which, as you know, is made up of a number of books with separate stories but with characters that we find in almost each of these volumes. That’s how I came up with the idea, which I thought was very good. It’s not a TV series, but it is not a completely independent movie either. For me it is a very interesting experiment, the same city appearing in three movies and becoming itself a character. Basically, a movie is a continuous rewriting. You have an idea, you develop it, then you write the script, have a second, third version, sometimes a 10th version. And when you are on set, you write it again, because only then you are truly face to face with the actors, with the truth of the story. The editing is followed by another rewrite, plus the sound mix, which is also very important for the story, at least in my opinion. Choosing the soundtrack is in fact another rewrite of the film, because you are giving it a new emotion. So this is what a movie is, a continuous rewriting, a lot like the process of writing a book. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a book in the future. Obviously, there are differences in terms of writing process, but there are also many similarities between making a movie and writing a book. Very important for a director is to pick an idea, a story that he can live with for a few years, something he thinks about all this time. The idea for Miracle came to me in 2018 and in the summer of 2019 I was already filming it in Piatra Neamț. I was lucky enough to film before the pandemic, but I had the bad luck to release it during the pandemic. I made the post-production of both films in the Czech Republic, at Barrandov Studios, where I worked with a sensational team.

Miracle had good reviews in the foreign press, after last year’s premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival, dedicated to films that represent the latest and most expressive trends in international cinema. Variety concluded that Miracle was one of the best films of the Venice Film Festival. The director told us more about the premiere in Venice: “I was happy because most of the team was present in Venice. The lead actors were there, alongside producer Oana Iancu and casting director Cătălin Dordea. I was very happy that all these people that worked so hard on the film were in Venice. It was a great achievement and the team enjoyed the success of the film. And now, at its release, I am glad to be in the country because this way I can participate in many screenings.

Alongside Ioana Bugarin and Emanuel Pârvu, the cast of “Miracle also includes Cezar Antal, Ovidiu Crișan, Valeriu Andriuță, Ana Ularu, Valentin Popescu, Marian Râlea, Nora Covali, Natalia Călin, Cătălina Moga, Olimpia Mălai, Vasile Muraru and Mircea Postelnicu. The director of photography is Oleg Mutu, the set design is signed by Mihaela Poenaru, the costumes are signed by Liene Dobrāja, and the makeup by Bianca Boeroiu. The film is produced by Oana Iancu and Bogdan George Apetri through their new production house The East Company Productions. The project participated in the Works in Progress section of Les Films de Cannes à Bucharest in 2020.