Andrei Ujica: Things We Said Today

… “then I will remember things we said today”. Beatles. “The influence they had on our generation”, as said Ujica, who is from 1951, I am four years older, and also I grew up with Beatles. And enjoy very much to remember those days in the beginning of the 60’es, where I met with my friend listening to and talking about John, Paul, Ringo and George. It’s a brilliant film project that Ujica has, “A time capsule of New York between August 13-15, 1965, framed by The Beatles’ arrival in the city and their first concert at Shea Stadium, narrated from the perspectives of two teenagers.” I have never met Ujica personally, but I have met his editor and sound editor Dana Bunescu at a workshop in Gori Georgia. Already there she mentioned that she was working with Ujica on this film AND they had worked together before, a quote from the blogpost I wrote:

“Did you see it : ”The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaucescu” (director : Andrei Ujica, editor and sound designer Dana Bunescu) from 2010, 3 hours long, a true masterpiece. You have to ! Archive the whole way through, no commentary, no explanations of where we are and when and why. Chronological.

Dana Bunescu, who is here as an editing tutor, a scoop to have her, open-minded and direct in her approach to the young filmmakers. Bunescu was working on the film for three years and what a material she had and put into a film, that is never boring but takes you in, because of its sense of rythm and use of sound, of music – Bunescu is a master in sound and it’s been an eye-opener to see her here in Gori talking about sound but also putting a recorder on the table to catch sounds that she might be able to use on another film occasion!”

At the pitch at IDFA, Ujica and his producer showed material, please show more, this is a film that will have an enormous success, I am sure, and not “only” for “our” generation. Ujica and Bunescu, archive masters!

… and to complete this hommage to the two, let me remind you that Ujica made two other films before “Ceaucescu” in his Romanian trilogy, “Videograms of a Revolution” (1992), “Out of the Present” (1995), and that Bunescu is the editor of several of the feature films of the “Romanian Wave” and also took part in the editing of the new excellent documentary “Collective” by Alexander Nanau.