Mircea Saucan

Born in 1928 in Paris in a mixed Jewish-Romanian family, Mircea Săucan spends the years of his childhood in France, Prague and finally in Transylvania. In 1940, the Săucans manage to escape Horthy's army and take refuge in Romania, while their relatives are deported to Auschwitz. During the years that follow, he has to hide and move from one city to another before he is able to graduate from high school.

He studies cinema in Moscow and in his student years, the names related to the Film School were Gherasimov, Donskoy, Kuleshov, Dovjenko, Pudovkin and Eisenstein, the latter being one of his professors.

Shortly after his return to Romania, he realises that the censors of the regime block all his creative attempts. Book after book, film after film are interdicted or distorted for "internal policy" reasons. Meanwhile, his work is noticed in the West. Monica Lovinescu, one of the famous names of the Romanian diaspora, talks about them at Radio Free Europe.

In 1987, after seven years of unemployment, Mircea Săucan is forced to emigrate to Israel. He publishes books in France, Israel and finally, after 1990, in Romania. His most recent film, "Coming Back" was made in France in 1995.

Films
The House on Our Street, 1956
Heroic Times, 1959
When Spring is Hot, 1961
Meander, 1964
Alert, 1965
100 Lei, 1971
Coming Back, 1995

CONFERENCE
"A Filmmaker’s Experience of the Communist Age" Wednesday 23 September

Citeste Iulia Blaga - Fantasme si adevăruri. O carte cu Mircea Săucan

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

film screenings

AFF09 Film Program (.pdf)

Mo.26 | Tu.27 | We.28 | Th.29

Fr.30 | Sa.31 | Su.01

events

Mo.26 - Su.01

FILM ARCHIVE

ASTRA FILM manages an extensive documentary film collection with public screening facilities. The ASTRA FILM archive started in 1990, and it has collected since thousands of documentaries produced in over 70 countries.

Due to our focus on the Eastern European and Romanian production, the ASTRA FILM archive holds a unique collection of documentaries documenting the issues of post-communism and transition in the region.