Razvan Georgescu: Testimony

The director was – in his own words – given a second chance after a brain tumor operation. The doctors gave him three years more to live and he has used these three years to – own words again – enter this film journey between life and death, where he visits artists who are in the same terminal illness situation or who in other ways have been inspired by challenging their mortality. 

The viewer meets sociologist and writer Helmut Dubiel, screenwriter William Finn, artist Katherine Sherwood, video artist Bill Viola, painter Jörg Immendorf, the director´s father Remus Georgescu and the sculptor Peter Jecsa.

… and the director himself. We don´t see him but we hear his voice once in a while to remind us how long time there remains of the film, and – he plays in a completely unsentimental way with this – maybe of his life. (Razvan Georgescu is still alive and continues filming other people from the art world for a new version of the film).

All the way through the film we return to the operation room, doctors put on gloves ready for action, as is the sculptor, the conductor, the painter and the video artist Bill Viola, who has one of the most interesting parts of the film, in which he describes what was behind his masterpiece “The Passing”. I mention this but could have taken other sequences from this very well constructed and inspiring film essay on the healing nature of art.

2008, 90 mins. Sneak preview. Will go to festivals and on Arte. http://www.ovie.com/projects/testimony/

 

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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