Why a magician? Vanity Fairs answers.

Dorobantu, a 25-year-old magician from Romania, lived half a world away from Christopher Hart, who played Thing in the 1990s Addams Family movies, but they had a lot in common. Not only are they two of the only people on the planet to play this particularly strange character, but both are magicians. Hart still tours widely and is a fixture at the Magic Castle club in Los Angeles.

Vanity Fair on Christopher Hart and Victor Dorobantu

Even the shooting was done in Romania. While in the movie the plot takes place in Vermont, they filmed everything in Buftea, at the movie studios.

Was it difficult for Dorobantu to get the “role”? He hadn’t expected that, as there were other magicians at the casting, but he did something surprising which might have influenced the director, Tim Burton:

I remember that I went to the casting with no expectations. It was a casting house in Bucharest. A couple of days later, someone called and said that I’m one of the last three of the magicians that were chosen. And when I got to Buftea Studios near Bucharest, I was there and two other magicians from Romania that I’m a big fan of were there. I was like, ‘I have no chance. These guys are a lot better than me.'”

The moment I met Tim, I just felt that we had a connection because when I put my hand on the table and we started talking, my hand was moving without [my] knowing. I was playing Thing while I was talking with Tim Burton.

Victor Dorobantu on how he got the part in Wednesday

So, this little thing of playing with his hand the way Thing moves in the movie got him the role in Wednesday. Clever, even if Dorobantu says it was not aware of that fact.

Victor Dorobantu has done everything to make Thing one of the most attractive characters in the Netflix series. And along with that, he has also succeeded in adding fame to his magician act. Who wouldn’t go to see him live, performing some magic after everybody knows he played Thing?

Photo source: Victor Dorobantu Facebook account

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Mattson has created some big projects, including a science-fiction script, 2084, and co-wrote The Batman, a Warner Bros. film to be released in 2022 and that will star Robert Pattinson. More than that, he’s also been chosen to write the pilot for an Amazon series based on Rick Remender’s comic The Fear Agent. One of the executive producers is Seth Rogen. He has many other productions to his credit, like Project Power or Little Fish.

Mattson Tomlin’s big directorial debut is Mother/Android, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller streaming on Netflix from January 7. The film is dramatized from real life-story of the screenwriter, and it is an emotional rollercoaster filled with romanticism, drama, and vulnerability. Georgia, interpreted by  Chloë Grace Moretz, is a young pregnant woman who tries to save herself and her baby with her lover Sam on a risky journey (interpreted by Algee Smith). At the same time, America is overtaken by a deadly and violent artificial intelligence uprising. Their journey to a safe place is filled with ups and downs. The two lovers show us that you would do everything to save your child. Georgia is a brave and strong woman who continues to travel at such speed and fight for herself and her baby despite her condition. The future is not so bright for the three of them, but Sam and Georgia will do everything to escape from the harsh reality they live in.

The film’s story is inspired by Mattson Tomlin’s personal experience when his parents made a difficult choice and decided to give him up for adoption.

The Interview offered to Valahia News before the release of Mother/Android on Netflix

Mattson Tomlin offered Valahia News an exclusive interview in which he tells us more about the film and the details behind Mother/Android.

Valahia News: Mattson, we are glad you agreed to answer our questions. Thank you for that! We will start by asking you something… You were born in Bucharest in the aftermath of the Revolution, but you were adopted and moved out to the United States immediately after. You lived almost your entire life in the US. How would you describe Romania as a Romanian-born American? Are the changes accomplished by Romania during the last 32 years visible from the States?

Mattson Tomlin: I mostly know Romania through the very specific lens of my own origins, and my relationship to the country up until recently has been very focused in the past, particularly the Revolution. It’s only been as I’ve gotten older and made friends who have their own relationship to Romania, either being from there, lived there, or visited frequently, that I started to understand the country that it has become today. From an American perspective, one of the reputations that Romania has is that it’s a hidden gem, and I’ve often heard people describe it as the most beautiful country in Europe.

The other, and perhaps more striking observation I can share is how the events of the Romanian Revolution aren’t well known in the US. For America, the spotlight of that era was very much on the fall of the Berlin Wall, which is what most people know. Of course, 1989 was a huge turning point for so much of Europe and these events are not unrelated… But here not so many people are educated on the events of the Revolution. Someday I hope I am lucky enough to make a film set during the Revolution instead of simply being inspired by it. That event and the stories around it have stayed completely relevant over the last 32 years, and are also the events that surrounded my origins, so I am always thinking about it.

Valahia News: Who were the filmmakers or screenwriters who offered you guidance or inspiration? Who made you step on this path and become the artist you are now?

Mattson Tomlin: First and foremost in this particular film is my producer, Matt Reeves. Matt is my mentor and very much helped godfather and guide me through the process of getting my first film made. His movies, from Cloverfield to the Planet of the Apes films, have been huge inspirations for me as a filmmaker, so having the opportunity to work with him and learn from him as I launched my first film was invaluable. Matt was one of the first filmmakers to really understand that I was telling my own story of my biological parents but translating it through genre and was incredibly supportive in helping me find the right way to do that. There are other filmmakers I’ve worked with along the way, either serving just as a screenwriter on movies that someone else directed, or just knowing and developing projects with other filmmakers. Going through that process with another director and seeing how they make a movie was also invaluable because I could learn through observation, from Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman on PROJECT POWER, from Chad Hartigan on our film LITTLE FISH, and many many others, it’s all been a learning experience.

Two of my biggest inspirations as filmmakers are Alfonso Cuaron and Derek Cianfrance. Alfonso I think is an easy one to spot because MOTHER/ANDROID has some obvious parallels to CHILDREN OF MEN, but Cianfrance is very special to me, how honest and vulnerable he gets. When I was pitching MOTHER/ANDROID in the early stages, I would describe it as BLUE VALENTINE meets TERMINATOR, leaning a little bit more towards BLUE VALENTINE.

Valahia News: Romania is quite proud of the new generation of film directors, some of which are already winning important European film festivals, such as Berlinale. Do you happen to know any contemporary filmmaker or screenwriter from Romania? Or maybe you saw some of the films they created. What is your opinion about the new wave of Romanian cinema?

Mattson Tomlin: One of the most profound experiences I’ve had in the cinema came in 2007. I was 16 or 17 at the time and my best friend had read that there was a film by a Romanian filmmaker playing and he took me to it. We had no idea what the movie was or anything about. The film was Christian Mungiu’s 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS and 2 DAYS.

I can remember watching the film and pretty quickly realizing that it was set in the late 80s, following a couple of young university students, and then the kind of sinking, visceral feeling when I realized the story was about pregnancy. I had gone to the cinema thinking we were just going to watch a film by a Romanian director, and suddenly it hit me that I was watching a story that was not that far off from my own story. It was incredible intense, I was absolutely not prepared emotionally, and the film left me stunned, in awe, and very shaken… Which sounds unpleasant, but I quite like having real emotional experiences in my movies. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

I’m a big fan of Mungiu, Radu Muntean’s The Paper Will Be Blue, Radu Jude’s work. The filmmaking coming out of Romania is incredibly strong, both in dramas and comedies. There’s a level of patience and deliberation and realism that is such a different rhythm than Hollywood filmmaking and I try to get my hands on everything I can… Partially as a huge admirer of the craft… But also because it’s a way for me to access the voices of the country.

Somewhat related… Several years ago I met the actor Sebastian Stan, who was born and spent his childhood in Romania. Both working in Hollywood now but with the ties to Romania, we really bonded and have a beautiful friendship that I am quite thankful for. We left Romania around the same time, though he is older than I am and has childhood memories of the country, of course, speaks the language, so getting to know him and learn his story is something I’m very thankful for and I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in the future we find ourselves working on something in Romania together.

Valahia News: Mother/Android is your directorial debut. We learned you wrote the script with your own experience in mind – this is like an ode to your biological family in Romania. There is an unmistakable resemblance between your birth mother, who lived and survived the problematic events during the Revolution, and the character in the movie. This pregnant young woman is looking for a shelter to give birth. Without revealing anything from the plot before its debut on January 7 on Netflix, can you tell us other similarities between the two women?

Mattson Tomlin: I wanted to take the several things I know about my birth parents, my birth mother, and weave them into a story about love, about loss, about family… I don’t know my birth mother. I know her name and a few details around the circumstances of my birth. Because there’s so much unknown, there’s a tremendous amount of fiction. Chloë Grace Moretz’s character Georgia is fiction. But I’ve taken parts of my own personality and combined them with what I know of the true story to try to paint a picture that feels realized as a young woman pregnant in an extremely chaotic environment trying to do the best she can with the situation. Ultimately the killer robots of the film are there to invite the audience in, but when you look a little bit closer, the film is really a love letter to the parents I never got to know.

Valahia News: As we already mentioned before, Mother/Android will be featured as a premiere on Netflix, on January 7, in just a few days. What do you expect from your directorial debut? And, as we care to find out something we are not familiar with: how do you measure the success level for a movie featured on Netflix? Apart from good critics, of course, you don’t have a box office type of measurement. Do directors get any metrics from Netflix? Will you know how many viewers you have on a specific period? What’s your expectation here, and what results, apart from good reviews, would mean success for you? 

Mattson Tomlin: For this film, it is not about the metrics of the views, it’s not about money, it’s not about the critics. For my future work, of course… And if MOTHER/ANDROID does well and people respond to it, I welcome that and am thankful to be seen… But I am not sure I know how to make a more personal film than this and ultimately I feel the success has already been achieved. As a first film, being able to combine the sci-fi genre with something intensely personal and make a movie entirely on my terms, in order to convey some very real, very deep feelings that I’ve had my entire life… That’s a privilege that not many first-time filmmakers get to have. The success is that the movie was made entirely on my terms I was able to say for myself, and to my biological parents exactly what I need to: I see you, I know you, thank you, I love you.

Instead of conclusion

Mattson Tomlin is a promising young screenwriter who offered this incredible film that for sure will be a great success. Despite his life story, he proved that it doesn’t matter where you were born or if you have been adopted or not. As long as you work hard and dedicate yourself to your purpose, you will undoubtedly create something beautiful.

Here is the trailer for the movie to be released on January 7 on Netflix. Enjoy!

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By his death in 1996 Sergiu Celibidache had already met impressive musical achievements which had made him one of the most famous Romanian personalities of all time. Not only that but from 1979 until his death he was the music director of the Munich philharmonic.

Such a career deserves to be praised in art. This is the context of the decision for a biographical film to be created. John Malkovich, the famous actor, was honored to be offered the main role and the shooting is about to start this year or at the beginning of the next year.

The name “The Yellow Tie” symbolizes the feeling of love for the country, the sensation of yearning for coming back to the natal places.

The yellow tie was a gift from his father after an exceptional achievement in school. When Sergiu Celibidache announced his father he wanted to follow a musical career and to leave to Bucharest, his father told him that yellow tie was to remain there. The yellow tie represents the feeling of missing your country, your youth, your childhood and the fact that the tie remained there as a symbol, a sort of connection with his past and his country.

Serge Celibidache, the son of Sergiu Celibidache, on the name of the movie “The Yellow Tie”

The film is to be shot exclusively in Romania, following the script written by the son of the great artist, Serge Celibidache. If necessary to shoot in a particular concert hall from abroad, the team will do that for a couple of days, though.

The film is to be ready by the end of next year or at the beginning of 2023. Most probably it will be in cinemas in late 2023 or at the beginning of 2024.

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“This is another exciting year programming-wise with several films from South East Europe set to make their debut here in the States with our virtual film festival presentation. We are especially excited to host a conversation with our wonderful Legacy Award honoree Dubravka Ugrešić on April 17 and the opportunity to celebrate the great work by Marija Škaričić and Jasna Djuričić, who star in four of our highly anticipated selections, Mare, Breasts, Quo Vadis, Aida?, and My Morning Laughter with the inaugural Legacy Acting Award, celebrating the work of two women who shine in such a prominent way in this year’s film festival.”

Vera Mijojlić, South East European Film Festival Executive Director

Romanian Films Featured in SEEfest 2021

In 2021, Romanian film-makers are once featured in the international festivals. This year, South East European Film Festival features 3 Romanian films, as compared to 2020 when only one film, Legacy, was displayed. Let’s take a look at the three Romanian films featured at SEEfest2021.

Romanian/Italian Co-production: EST

The Romanian/Italian Film “EST” is directed by Antonio Pisu. The story line is as it follows: A few weeks before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Pago, Rice and Bibi, twenty-four (twenty-five) years old, leave the calm city of Cesena looking for adventure: a ten-days-long holiday in Eastern Europe, in those places where the Soviet regime is still alive. As they get to Budapest, they meet Emil, a Romanian fleeing from the dictatorship in his country. The man is worried for his family that still lives in Romania, so he asks the three Italians for help. It is an easy task: take a suitcase to his wife and daughter. Out of pity and looking for a thrill, the three friends head to Bucharest, in the heart of Ceausescu’s dictatorship. Without knowing what is waiting for them, in a journey beyond their imagination, Pago, Rice and Bibi will find themselves in a country under the dictatorial regime, involved in surreal situations and surrounded by unlikely characters that will seriously put their lives at risk.

Romanian Film: Poppy Field

The Romanian Film “Poppy Field” is directed by Eugen Jebeleanu. Poppy Field follows the struggle of a young Romanian gendarme, Cristi, who tries to find the balance between two apparently opposing parts of his identity: that of a man working in a macho hierarchical environment and that of a closeted gay person who tries to keep his personal life a secret.

Romanian/US Co-production: So, What’s Freedom?

The Romanian Film “So, What’s Freedom?” is directed by Andrei Zinca. The movie follows the lives of a group of people turn when they discover true freedom into a forced exile. This story of love, survival and thirst for freedom is inspired by real events, which took place in 1951, in a country (Romania) which had been recently subjugated by a totalitarian regime, and is told from a present day perspective.

​About South East European Film Festival (SEEfest)

South East European Film Festival Los Angeles (SEEfest) is a competition festival presenting cinematic and cultural diversity of 18 countries of the Balkans and Caucasus to American audiences. It provides a platform in the U.S. for the discovery of new talent from South East Europe, with a wide selection of films, art and literary talks, workshops and panels. The film festival serves as the cultural hub and resource for scholars and filmmakers, and creates opportunities for cultural exchange between Hollywood industry professionals and filmmakers from South East Europe. It is a non-profit, public benefit corporation. For more information, visit https://seefilmla.org/.

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The director of the movie, Radu Jude, is not at his first prize at Berlinale. In 2015 he received the Silver award for Aferim!, a black and white production.

Here’s Radu’s reaction the moment he finds out about the prize:

This year’s competition was held online, because of the pandemic. Still, the movie was exceptionally crafted and the action developed in such a way that persuaded the jury to award the prize to the Romanian director’s film.

Always up for innovative cinematic experiments, Radu Jude has crafted from this constellation an intelligent, satirical triptych: with its nonchalantly precise camerawork and manic humour found in the stress of everyday life on Bucharest’s streets, the first part shows us what contemporary cinema at the documentary-fiction interface can look like. The second part is an offbeat series of laconic, static images intended as an encyclopaedia of the symbols of our time. The film’s grand – albeit open-ended – finale is a discussion held at the school in which judgement is passed on our heroine’s right to exist.

Radu Jude’s awarded movie description at Berlinale 2021

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Collective, the Romanian documentary about the fire in the Bucharest nightclub Colectiv, a tragedy which happened in 2015, and about the corruption of the authorities, wins the European Documentary 2020.

Collective tries to document the tentacles of a corrupted system: the Romanian health system, but also the corrupted system at the local authorities level. It is a tragic case which marked a generation, it is an event which led to the overthrowing of a Government in 2015. For one full year politicians took a break and let the technocrats to politically lead the country in Romania.

The film is the creation of director Alexander Nanau who had the honor of speaking last night during the ceremony. His film is also the Romanian proposal for Oscars’ “Best International Feature”.

The big winner of the European Film Awards 2020 is the Danish film “Another Round“.

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After months of incredible work by our very own dream team, we were able to pivot with online festival. It was truly a heroic effort. While most other festivals have completely canceled their 2020 editions, SEEfest has not only kept up its programming, but managed to produce the full-scale online festival that we can be proud of.

Vera Mijojlic, founder and director of SEEfest

The 2020 SEEfest Online features a rigorously curated program including Romania’s psychological thriller Legacy, featuring Dragos Bucur and Madalina Ghenea, which has already been picked up by Netflix-EU; Kosovo’s haunting story about motherhood and war traumas, Zana; mother-daughter story Pilate, an adaptation of the novel by the celebrated Hungarian writer, Magda Szabó; and a roster of other films exemplifying SEEfest’s own indomitable spirit, such as multi-awarded Turkish Queen Lear, with a cast of salvar-wearing rural women playing Shakespeare; Croatian Schindler’s List-type story, The Diary of Diana B. about the unsung heroine of WWII, the Bulgarian My Gypsy Road about the first-ever indigenous Roma woman to graduate from the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and dozens more.

About the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest)

SEEfest presents cinematic and cultural diversity of South East Europe to American audiences; supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood; by ELMA, Foundation for European Languages and Movies in America, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

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