14-12-2011

OBITUARY: Mihnea Gheorghiu

By Iulia Blaga

    {mosimage}BUCHAREST: The president of the Romanian Filmmakers Union (UCIN, www.ucin.ro) passed away on 11 December 2011. He was 92. Gheorghiu was born in 1919. He was the head of the English Department and the University of Bucharest and head of the Theatre and Film Departments at the Theatre and Film Institute (IATC) in Bucharest. He was an author and screenwriter, whose screenplays included Porto-Franco (1961), Tudor (1963), Zodia Fecioarei/The Sign of Virgo (1966), Pădurea pierdută/The Lost Forest (1971), Dimitrie Cantemir (1973), Hyperion (1975), Tănase Scatiu (1976) and Burebista (1980).

    Upon his death, he was president of UCIN and Jead of the Arts, Architecture and Audiovisual section of the Romanian Academy (www.acad.ro). He was elected as a full member of the Romanian Academy in 1996.

    He was awarded by the Romanian Academy, UCIN and film festivals in Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Cork. He was Doctor Honoris Causa at many faculties and he received numerous medals in Romania, France, Germany, Holland and Italy. He was also an Honorary Citizen of San Francisco.

    He was the third president of Romanian Filmmakers Union, founded in 1963, and the only president of an artistic association in Romania which kept his position long after 1990. UCIN has now 14 associations, comprising the Directors Association, the Actors Association, the Producers Association and the Film Critics Association.

    Published in Romania
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