Condamnat la viaţă/A Farewell to Fools aka Ipu – Convicted to Life is an adaptation of the novel The Death of Ipu/Moartea lui Ipu by Titus Popovici set in a Romanian village during the WWII German occupation. When a German soldier is killed, the village officials try to convince the village fool to turn himself in to save their own skins.
Gérard Depardieu plays Ipu, Harvey Keitel is Johannis, the priest of the village, and Laura Morante is Margherita. The cast also includes the Romanian actors Bogdan Iancu, Alexandru Bindea, Daniela Nane, Nicodim Ungureanu, Gheorghe Visu, and Adina Cartianu.
A Farewell to Fools is produced by Giuliano Doman through Family Film in coproduction with the German company Daniel Zuta Filmproduktion and the Belgian company Minds Meet BVBA. It is supported by the National Centre for Cinema, Media-Tique, TVR1, United Media Services, Mediaedgia Romania, Mindshare Media, The Media Partnership, Starcom Mediavest Group, BV McCann Erickson, and Eurimages. Shoreline Entertainment is handling the sales.
Shot entirely in Romania in 2011, A Farewell to Fools was an expensive production for Romania at 3 m EUR. “The budget was a lot under what is expected for such a production, but with passion and understanding I hope we made an extraordinary film,” Doman said.
Production information
Family Film
Sema Parc, 319 Splaiul Independentei
6th district, 060044
Bucharest, Romania
Phone : +4021.310.47.37
+4031.228.95.34
Fax : +4021.317.22.02
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Daniel Zuta Filmproduktion
Kleine Nelkenstrasse 17
D - 60488 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 69/ 25 37 35
Fax: +49 69/ 23 90 58
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Minds Meet BVBA
Kerkeveldstraat 103
1020 Brussel, Belgique
Phone: +32476460015
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Credits
Director: Bogdan Dumitrescu Dreyer
Script: Anuşavan Salamanian
DOP: Richard van Oosterhaut
Editor: Philippe Ravoet
Art director: Anette Reuther
Costume designer: Nathalie Leborgne
Music: Joris van den Hauwe
Sound engineer: Eick Hoemann
Cast: Gérard Depardieu
Harvey Keitel
Laura Morante
Hubert Damen
Bogdan Iancu
Alexandru Bindea
Gabriel Spahiu
Adina Cartianu
Mihai Constantin
Gheorghe Visu