Bucharest Film Studios (Media Pro Studios) in Romania is Eastern Europe's largest and longest established film studios with a tradition in cinema spanning almost 70 years. The complex is located in the town of Buftea, 20 kilometers north-west of Bucharest. Since they were founded (in the 1950s), over 600 films have been shot and processed there, both Romanian and international productions.
In 2015, a group of investors from the U.S. and Romania finalized the transaction through which CME sold the shares to Media Pro Entertainment, a major shareholder of the Media Pro Studios. After a rebranding, Media Pro Studios is now Bucharest Film Studios.
Beginning
In the wake of Soviet control of Romania, the newly installed regime was quick to realize the propaganda potential of feature films. In 1950, construction began at what would later be called, using a terminology typical for that era, Centrul de Producţie Cinematografică Buftea (Buftea Film Production Center). Like any other business in a communist country, the studios were owned by the state and controlled by the Communist Party.
Although the studios were not fully finished until 1959, shooting began in the middle of the 1950s. At its completion, there were four stages, one set for mixed indoor-outdoor shooting, and a film processing lab. A single stage could store 30 limousines, as it did during a shooting for S-a furat o bombă ("A Bomb Has Been Stolen"), or could reproduce La Scala Opera Hall in Milan, used in the film Darcleé. Under the floor of the mixed indoor-outdoor set there was a water tank with crystal walls[clarification needed] for underwater shootings.
Film production during the communist regime
From 1959 until 1989 the studios produced around twenty films per year. Films created during this period that won international acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival include: Scurtă istorie (A Short History) directed by Ion Popescu-Gopo, which won the Palme d'Or for Short Films in 1957;[1]Pădurea spânzuraților (Forest of the Hanged) directed by Liviu Ciulei, who won the Best Director Award in 1965;[2]Răscoala (Blazing Winter) directed by Mircea Mureșan, who won the Best First Work Award in 1966;[3]Cântecele Renașterii (Renaissance Songs), a documentary about the Madrigal Choir directed by Mirel Ilieșiu, which won the Palme d'Or for Short Films in 1969.[4]
Some of the most famous directors of Romanian cinema made their debuts at the Buftea Studios: Iulian Mihu and Manole Marcus – Viața nu iartă (Life Doesn't Spare), in 1959; Dan Pița – Nunta de piatră (The Stone Wedding), in 1972; Mircea Veroiu – Duhul aurului (Gold Fever), in 1974; Mircea Daneliuc – Cursa (The Long Drive), in 1975.
Due to good technical conditions provided by the Romanian studios, many international co-productions were shot at Buftea Studios before 1990. Ciulinii Bărăganului (Baragan Thistles), directed by Louis Daquin, Codine (Codeine) and Steaua fără nume (Nameless Star), both directed by Henri Colpi, Serbările galante (The Lace Wars), directed by René Clair, Dacii (The Dacians), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu or Columna (The Column), directed by Mircea Drăgan, are only a few examples.
Transition to the market economy
After the fall of the communist regime (the Romanian Revolution of 1989) the studios suffered heavily from lack of funding. Film production dramatically diminished and the number of theaters that stayed open was in freefall. However, Romanian film directors managed to make their voice heard in international festivals once again: Dan Piţa was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1992 (for Hotel de lux – Hotel Deluxe) and Lucian Pintilie was awarded the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the same festival in 1998 (for Terminus Paradis).
Like the entire Romanian economy, the Buftea Studios entered a recession period. The government reduced funding the film industry during this period.[citation needed] Thus, the late 1990s found the Buftea Studios on the verge of bankruptcy.
New beginning
In 1998 the Studios were purchased at a public auction by Media Pro Group. It took more than a year of intensive renovation to bring back to life all the production facilities. Media Pro Studios has 19 stages, the largest water tank in Eastern Europe,[citation needed] a backlot (including a lake), more than 30,000 costumes from all historical periods,[citation needed] and exterior sets from the 16th to 18th century.
In autumn 2006 three new Romanian titles entered the theaters: Margo, directed by Ioan Cărmăzan, Lacrimi de iubire (Tears of Love) – the first Romanian spin-off –, and Trei fraţi de belea (Three Loony Brothers) – from the authors of the number one film in local box-office after 1990, Garcea şi oltenii (Garcea, the Stupidest Policeman on Earth).
In 2007, California Dreaming (endless), a Media Pro Pictures production directed by Cristian Nemescu, received Un certain regard Prix at Cannes Film Festival.
In recent years, Media Pro Studios has diversified its range of services to include television. Working with the TV stations co-owned by Adrian Sârbu and Central European Media (Pro TV and Acasă), Media Pro Studios and its sister company, Media Pro Pictures, produced the first local sitcom, Neighbors Forever, 2002, as well as the first local soap opera (Only Love, 2004). Neighbors Forever has been on the air for 10 seasons which is a record in Romanian television.
Their television production portfolio also includes other soap operas and sitcoms, a police series, and dozens of TV films. Studio officials claim that in 2006 alone about 1,000 hours of fiction were produced for television.[citation needed]
Since 2009, with the integration of Media Pro Entertainment within Central European Media Enterprises, Media Pro Studios is servicing original content production for six countries, dozens of CME broadcasters and distribution as well as receiving commissions from third party broadcasters. It is able to offer full production services to the international film industry.
Taking advantage of the region's abundance of talent in the field, Media Pro Entertainment was the first to create a coherent entity integrating cutting-edge CGI / VFX technology and content into the production and post-production work flow and facilities. Media Pro Magic is now one of the leading VFX and Post-production houses in the region.
Present day
In 2015, a group of investors – formed by important film producers from the US and Romania – has finalized the transaction through which CME sold the shares of MediaPro Entertainment, major shareholder of the Media Pro Studios. Following a rebranding operation, Media Pro Studios became Studiourile Buftea.
Amza Pellea was a Romanian actor noted for playing Romanian national heroes on film.
Kira Georgievna Muratova was a Ukrainian award-winning film director, screenwriter and actress of Russian/Jewish descent, known for her unusual directorial style.
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad. The history of cinema in Romania dates back to the late 19th century, as early as the history of film itself. With the first set of films screened on May 27, 1896, in the building of L'Indépendance Roumanie newspaper in Bucharest. In the Romanian exhibition, a team of Lumière brothers' employees screened several films, including the famous L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat. The next year, in 1897, the French cameraman Paul Menu shot the first film set in Romania, The Royal parade on May 10, 1897. The first Romanian filmmaker was doctor Gheorghe Marinescu. He created a series of medically themed short films for the first time in history between 1898 and 1899.
MediaPro Pictures is the largest film and TV production company in Romania, part of MediaPro Entertainment along with other production units from Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. Since 2009, MediaPro Entertainment is part of CME, a media and entertainment group, who operates broadcasting, internet and TV content companies.
Ciulinii Bărăganului is a 1958 Franco-Romanian film directed by Louis Daquin and Gheorghe Vitanidis, based on a novel of the same title by Panait Istrati.
Liviu Ciulei was a Romanian theater and film director, film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he was described by Newsweek as "one of the boldest and most challenging figures on the international scene".
Mariana Nicolesco was a Romanian operatic soprano who had an international career after she studied in Rome on a scholarship. She was a regular performer at La Scala in Milan where she performed Baroque opera such as Euridice in Rossi's Orfeo, Mozart roles such as Cinna in Lucio Silla in 1984, and contemporary including the world premiere of Luciano Berio's La Vera Storia in 1982.
Colea Răutu was a Romanian actor, born in Bălți. He played in more than fifty movies and TV series, among other the western film Apachen, the Romanian TV series Toate pînzele sus, and the prize-winning film Răscoala.
The 19th Cannes Film Festival was held from 5 to 20 May 1966. To honour the festival's 20th anniversary, a special prize was given.
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Forest of the Hanged is a 1965 Romanian drama film directed by Liviu Ciulei, and based on the eponymous novel by Liviu Rebreanu. Ciulei won the award for Best Director at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.
Răscoala is a 1965 Romanian drama film directed by Mircea Mureșan based on a novel by Liviu Rebreanu about the Romanian peasant uprising of 1907. Mureșan won the prize for Best First Work at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first Romanian film to be submitted to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. However, it failed to be nominated.
Mircea Mureșan was a Romanian film director. He directed 22 films between 1961 and 2004. Mureșan won the prize for Best First Work at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival for the film Răscoala.
Mircea Daneliuc is a Romanian film director, screenwriter and actor. He has directed 19 films since 1975. In 1993 his film The Conjugal Bed was entered into the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Two years later, his film The Snails' Senator was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
Forest of the Hanged is a novel by Romanian writer Liviu Rebreanu. Published in 1922, it is partly inspired by the experience of his brother Emil Rebreanu, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army hanged for espionage and desertion in 1917, during World War I.
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Events from the year 1958 in Romania. The year saw the end of the Soviet occupation of Romania with the last Soviet troops leaving the country.
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