Director Silviu Purquerete has announced he is withdrawing from the UNITER Awards nominations after several young directors criticized the jury for ignoring a new generation of artists in the Best Show and Best Director nominations. We remind you that more than 1,400 people – important actors and directors from Romania, as well as other cultural figures, journalists and viewers – signed a petition on this matter, in which they also demanded the withdrawal of the UNITER Award nomination of the UNITER Award. director Andrii Zholdak, accused of hitting the actress during the break of the performance. Tompa Gábor, general director of the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj, responded to this petition, who considers the action “neo-Bolshevik activism, influenced by the ideology of ‘awakened’ and ‘cancelled culture’ (which is particularly harmful). and endangers works of art of great value.”

In a petition to the Senate of UNITER (Theatrical Union of Romania), more than 1,400 people demanded the withdrawal of Andrii Zholdak’s nomination from the “Best Director” category. Zoldak is accused of slapping Eva Imre, an actress of the Hungarian Theater from Cluj-Napoca, during the intermission of the play, who was unhappy with her performance in the first part of the play. Colleagues of the actress called 112 and called the police, but the actress did not make a statement. After the incident, the director fined the theater 5% of the fee.

The initiator of the petition is the director Carmen Lidia Vidu, and the list of signatories includes well-known names of the Romanian theater: directors Katinka Draganescu, Alexandra Badia, Ioana Peun and Eugene Djebelianu, actors Mihai Calin, Ada Gales, Istvan Teglas, Florentina Silea, Nicoleta. Lefter and Emilian Oprea, as well as theater critics Kristina Modrianu, Oan Stojka, and Kristina Rusecki.

The signatories of the petition also draw attention to the “invisibility of the young generation of artists, which is not represented in the categories “Best Show” or “Best Direction”, independent theater, the aesthetic diversity that characterizes the Romanian theater recently, awarding the Lifetime Achievement Award to Oleksandr Repan, a former employee Security are some of the highlights.”

• “I can’t help but wonder what is the message of the jury and UNITER to recognize a director who slaps actresses and completely ignore a generation of directors-directors of 30-40 years,” says director Carmen Lidia Vidu, the initiator of the petition.

(Read the full text of the petition. It is available on declic.ro: https://campaniamea.declic.ro/petitions/retragerea-nominalizarii-lui-andriy-zholdak-din-categoria-cel-mai-bun-regizor)

UNITER decided to cancel the award for actor Oleksandr Repan

Regarding the Lifetime Achievement Award to be given to actor Alexandru Repan, a former security officer, UNITER announced on Monday in a press release that:

“The UNITER Senate does not deny the exceptional creative activity of the actor Alexander Repan, for which he was honestly nominated for the award, but the activity of a Security employee is incompatible with values. promoted by the UNITER Charter: democracy, respect for human rights, trade union solidarity. Thus, the UNITER Senate decides to withdraw the Lifetime Achievement Award awarded to actor Alexander Repan.”

Silviu Purcate declines the nomination for the UNITER award for directing

Director Silviu Purquerete announced that he wants to withdraw from the list of nominees for the award after the reaction in the public space. Purkerete was nominated for the production of the show “Antonin Artaud. The Chenchi Family”, named after Shelley and Stendhal, the Vasyl Oleksandri National Theater of Iasi, as well as for the best play with the same name.

A post on the UNITER Facebook page on Monday evening published a letter sent by Silviu Purcărete:

“To the UNITER Senate

Mr. President,

Dear colleagues,

After the revelation that I was 72 years old, that I was on the male side, not to mention, God bless, and other politically incorrect techniques, I also realized that my nomination for the director’s award went against the expectations of some young brothers and sisters and generators excitement and indignation.

Sincerely thanking the five members of the jury for the “mistake” of selecting me for the award, I ask you to consider my refusal from the competition, which I did not want and do not necessarily want, and which causes so much bitterness and parapon.

In hard times when food resources are limited, old mammals are known to be removed and sacrificed to preserve the young, and hard times indeed we live in.

For the sake of reconciliation and reconciliation, I propose that instead of my nomination, the jury or even the Senate itself appoint one of the young men or, rather, one of the young lionesses of the Romanian kingdom.

Nothing ironic, just respect for the voice of Nature!

With thanks and special regards,

Silviu Purcarete

March 20, 2023″

Tompa Gabor: “I protest against such approaches that mix extremist ideologies with assessments of aesthetic value”

A message from Tompa Gábor, general director of the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj-Napoca, was also published on the UNITER Facebook page on Monday evening, strongly rejecting the withdrawal of director Andriy Zoldak’s candidacy. What Tompa Gabor wrote:

“Regarding the controversies surrounding this year’s nominations at the UNITER Awards, I consider the idea of ​​the jury’s withdrawal of Andrii Zholdak’s nomination for the director’s award at the request of an activist-ideological group to be false, exaggerated, distorted and inflated by the Romanian press, in the context of the performance of “Rosmersholm” at the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj , exactly 6 years have passed since its premiere! Then there were bombastic and shocking headlines like “the actress was beaten by the Ukrainian director”, which turned out to be completely false as a result of the investigation and investigation we conducted immediately after the event.

I would like to note that since then the play has received numerous awards at international festivals, including for the best play, for the best female role, for the best scenery at the National Theater Festival POSZT in Pecs and was invited to the Theater Olympiad in St. Petersburg, as well as to the Ibsen festivals in Oslo and Tokyo. However, there were also activists worthy of descendants of communist-era censors who demanded the revocation of awards and self-criticism(!!) of the jury. Just like in the case of “Fools under the Moonlight” directed by Lucian Pintilier at the Boulandre theater in 1962, where at the behest of Comrade Dumitru Popescu “God” the critics declared that they “saw the play wrong”!!!

I believe that this kind of neo-Bolshevik activism, influenced by the ideology of “awakened” and “abolished culture”, is particularly harmful and endangers works of art of great value.

As the general director of the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj and, in particular, as the president of the Union of Theaters of Europe, I protest against such approaches that mix extremist ideologies with assessments of aesthetic value. At the same time, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the continuous persecution of a prominent Ukrainian director through repeated ideological pressure carries an extremely negative message and can have dire consequences in the context of the tragic political events of our time.

Tompa Gabor

20.03.2023″

The UNITER Awards are presented annually and are considered the most prestigious awards in the Romanian theater world.

The nominations for the UNITER Gala Awards 2023 can be found in full here: https://www.uniter.ro/premiile-senatului-si-nominalizarile-pentru-premiile-galei-uniter-2023/.