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On the Impossibility of an Homage

Xandra Popescu
Romania / Germany
19’

Who is responsible for the portrait, the painter or the subject? Ion Tugearu was a rockstar of ballet in Communist Romania. When discussing the possibility of a shooting, Ion is initially overjoyed. He’s been dreaming that someday there’d be a film about him. But as things progress, he finds it hard to accept the director’s approach. He questions Xandra’s ability to make the film happen.

Ion Tugaru is uneasy with close-ups, and not because of his supposed lack of photogenic qualities, as he confidently says in the very beginning. This severe, eye-catching man, once a principal ballet dancer (the body that moves the spectacle), and now a choreographer (the mind that moves the body), is much a charming histrionic presence and a hermit-artisan of male body perfection. Watching him, it becomes evident that he’s perfectly aware of his own need for omnipotence. A dark star, a black hole, he can absorb any landscape around him; but a close-up, he feels, is an unacceptable act of dominance over him. Xandra Popescu’s fascinating documentary is in most part about Tugaru’s struggle against becoming someone else’s image. (Călin Boto)

 

Screening date and location

September 27th, 6:30 PM, Cinemateca Eforie

Tickets

Awards & Festivals

Xandra Popescu

Xandra Popescu works as a writer, curator, and filmmaker. In 2022, her film Perfect Two had its premiere in Kurzfilmtage Winterthur and its German premiere in the Dresden Film Festival. In 2023, her film Sentimental Stories premiered in the international competition of the 80th Venice Film Festival (Orizzonti).

  • Technical sheet
  • Production and distribution
  • Director: Xandra Popescu
  • Scriptwriter: Xandra Popescu
  • Director of Photography: Pedro Bordaberry
  • Editor: Cătălin Cristuțiu, Ana Branea, Xandra Popescu
  • Sound designer: Florentin Tudor
  • Produced by: Ada Solomon (microFILM, Romania), Xandra Popescu (Hello Trouble, Romania)
  • Co-produced by: Jonas Dornbach (Komplizen Film)

Screens

National Competition 1

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On the Impossibility of an Homage

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Who is responsible for the portrait, the painter or the subject? Ion Tugearu was a rockstar of ballet in Communist Romania. When discussing the possibility of a shooting, Ion is initially overjoyed. He’s been dreaming that someday there’d be a film about him. But as things progress, he finds it hard to accept the director's approach. He questions Xandra's ability to make the film happen.

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