
Synopsis
Foreword: “Helping your neighbor, that’s what it’s all about”, said the director about the movie “Baptism”. Vali Nechifor has faith in humanity, he wants to tell us. He trusts that, behind the inevitable social chaos of any historical period, understanding and empathy remain essential qualities of being human. (cinepub.ro)
Directed by: Vali Nechifor
Cast: Mircea Solcanu, Geo Dobre, Gabriel Roșu, Robert Dobre
Script by: Vali Nechifor
Producer: David Vîlcu, Cosmin Grosu, Mircea Solcanu, Cosmina Paraschiv, Vali Nechifor
Cinematography: Darius Popa
Edited by: Darius Popa
Sound: Duada Rusu, David Vîlcu
Music: David Vîlcu
Year: 2024
Category: Short film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 18m
13,679 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
During the quarantine in March 2020, a disabled painter with terminal cancer wants to reconcile with God. Imposed restrictions become an obstacle on his path to salvation.
FESTIVALS:
- 2024 – Seawave Film Fest
CRITICAL REVIEWS:
“Iosif (played by Mircea Solcanu) is a disabled painter with terminal cancer who lives alone among religious paintings and developed photographs. He is also an orphan. Because he feels the end is coming, he wants to draw closer to God through the mystery of baptism. The decision to assign such a destiny to him is useful for the story’s good flow, even though the biographical preface was not imperative to empathize with the protagonist.” – Elena Călinoiu, cinepub.ro
“Aside from a few expository lines at the beginning (by the priest with whom Joseph consults by phone about the idea of being baptized), the acting is flawless, and the framing and the film’s image are the product of a fine eye, attentive to detail, sustaining the sense of tranquility in a chaotic cosmos that Nechifor wants to cultivate.” – Elena Călinoiu, cinepub.ro
“The movie could be read as an ideological plea for physical death in order to save spiritual life. Looking as empathetic and, in the end, simple (like Gabriel Rosu’s character), I prefer to notice in particular the good intention to talk about civic spirit and friendship born ad hoc between two people whose path does not follow the classical laws of the world they are in. In other words, compassion is a fundamental value, even in unstable times.” – Elena Călinoiu, cinepub.ro
TRIVIA:
- Valentin Nechifor is an actor and director, having graduated from the theater faculty of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj.
- Valentin says in an interview with Tomis TV that he recreated in a sequence in the movie a situation he saw in reality during the 2020 pandemic, when a disabled man fell out of his wheelchair and was treated improperly by local police officers, because he did not have the necessary declaration at the time to engage in various social activities.
- The movie is made in Constanța, with a team of actors exclusively from the city.
- On the decision to cast Mircea Solcanu in the lead role, Valentin says it happened naturally. The script was already written, and later Mircea told the young man how, at a certain time in his life, he was helping a disabled friend to see the sea, which is what happens in the movie between Iosif (Mircea Solcanu) and the homeless boy (Gabriel Roșu). Valentin felt at the time that Mircea Solcanu, although not a professional actor, was the right person for the part.
- “Helping your neighbor. That’s what the relationship between Mircea Solcanu’s character and Gabriel Rosu’s character is all about”, says the director.
LINES:
“He keeps calling me… but whom shall I ask to bring me to Him? People?” – Iosif (Mircea Solcanu)
“Wait for this madness to pass, people are sure to gather.” – The priest
“The evil one defeated Him.” – Iosif (Mircea Solcanu)
“Show me a declaration, please.” – Agent Pascu (Robert Dobre)
“I have to go to get baptized.” – Iosif (Mircea Solcanu)
“Understand me. We are human beings.” – Iosif (Mircea Solcanu)
“‘Man, do you like what they make you do?” – Iosif (Mircea Solcanu)
“Go home, sir, don’t you understand? You’re nothing but trouble!” – Agent Pascu (Robert Dobre)
“You keep talking about God. Can’t you see he abandoned us all?” – Deputy Chief Voicu (Geo Dobre)
“I know what it’s like to argue with God. What can you do? They are God now.” – Deputy Chief Voicu (Geo Dobre)
“Listen… don’t stress about this fine. There’s a lot of them now, it’s overlooked. Fuck them, they took the skin off us.”- Deputy Chief Voicu (Geo Dobre)
“I feel ashamed when I think that I have to go to work” – Deputy Chief Voicu (Geo Dobre)
“Go in the morning. If they ask, tell them you’re going to the pharmacy.” – Deputy Chief Voicu (Geo Dobre)
ARTICLES:
- To be or not to be… actor or director. Valentin Nechifor, life in front and behind the camera, at only 23 – tomistv.ro