Thursday, April 23, 2020

April 23 - Radu Mihăileanu


Happy 62nd Birthday, Radu Mihăileanu! Born today in 1958, this Romanian-born French screenwriter and film director's exile and identity are themes of which are personally dear to him. 

Mihăileanu came from a family persecuted by Nazis. In the 1980s, he and his family had fled the dictatorship of their native Romania. 
  
After Mihăileanu had left Romania, he later studied and graduated from the IDHEC cinematographic institute in Paris, France. 

In addition to his work in the cinema, he later published a book of poems in 1987 titled Une vague en mal de mer (A Seasick Wave). 
  
It was in the early 1990s that Mihăileanu made his first feature film. This was the 1993 French/Swiss/Spanish/Romanian drama/history film 'Trahir' ('Betrayal'). It recounts the struggles of a dissident Romanian poet with the Stalinist regime.  
  
However, it was with his second feature film, the 1998 French/Belgian/Dutch/Israeli/Romanian war/drama film 'Train de vie', ('Train of Life') of which he was awarded at the 55th Venice Film Festival in September of that same year.  
  
The following year, Mihăileanu was twice nominated at the 24th César Awards in early March 1999 that he achieved international recognition. 
  
In the mid-2000s, Mihăileanu co-wrote, co-produced and directed his best known feature. This was the 2005 French/Israeli/Belgian/Italian drama film 'Va, Vis et Deviens' ('Live and Become', also known as 'Go, Live and Become'). 
  
At two and a half hours, the film tells of an Ethiopian Jewish boy named Schiomo (Moshe Agazai)

The boy is later taken to Israel from Ethiopia by a Jewish woman named Yael (Yael Abecassis)whose son has died. Yael is about to be airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel during Operation Moses in 1984. 
  
As an adult, Schiomo (now played by Sirak M. Sabahatfinds himself forced to confront his past. 
  
'Live and Become' later won three prizes at the 55th Berlin Film Festival in February 2005. The film then secured Mihăileanu's position as one of the most renowned European directors today. 
  
In the early 2010s, his 2011 French/Belgian/Italian comedy/drama film 'La Source des femmes' ('The Source') premiered in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year. 
  
Mihăileanu has one son. This is French actor Gary Mihaileanu. 
  
Mihăileanu has been active from 1980–present. 
  
#borntodirect 
@raduoioioi 
@JSTOR.org 
@cineuropa 
@kanopy 
@saa.authors 
@tubi 

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