The Romanian, who invented an automatic table tennis ball launcher and is the subject of the movie The Man Without a Lifebuoy (which will be released on December 1), gave an interview to HotNews.ro in which he talks about how they imprisoned communists on the basis of and how later he rebuilt his life abroad.

The life of the Romanian inventor Ionel Sporea demanded to be turned into a film. In 1970, when he was only 12 years old, Sporea became the national table tennis champion. Seven years later, he succeeded in creating a concept for a highly efficient table tennis ball launch device.

He was inspired by a machine produced by the Swedish company STIGA, which at the time was a box that threw balls to a fixed point. Instead, the Romanian’s invention performed many different shots that surprised the athlete on the receiving end, and if they were hit correctly, the balls were collected by a robot, which then resumed the launch process.

The invention was officially registered in 1985, but during the communist regime, all intellectual rights belonged to the state.

Four years later, the car received a special prize at the Moscow International Fair.

However, after the staging of the Securitate, Sporea was accused of bribery and treason and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Jilawi, where he befriended Fane Spoitoru.

In total, he served 14 months of imprisonment, because the revolution took place in 1989, and after the death of Ceausescu, he was released and decided to emigrate.

Ionel Sporea came to Belgium, where he spent a week sleeping on the street, under cardboard boxes. He then began working as a barman and slowly earned a living and settled in Venduine, a town near Bruges.

Also during that period, the club “Cercle Brugge” transferred three Romanians: Dorinel Muntianu, Tibor Selimes and Marius Cheregi, and Sporea became their translator and helped them integrate faster.

After 1994, he left for Canada and settled there. The film “A Man Without a Lifeline” directed by Adriana Vasilkov, which will premiere in the country’s cinemas on December 1, tells the story of this relatively little-known Romanian.

The cast includes big names such as Armand Calote, Maya Morgenstern, Yevgenia Sherban, Rares Andrici and Carmen Tenace, and the role of Ionel Sporea is played by actors Armand Calote and Rares Andrici.

Yonel Sporea gave an interview to HotNews.ro about his life story, which has now been turned into a film.

“I could not come to terms with the fact that this whole story was hidden in the depths of my soul”

In your case, the saying “life is better than a movie” fits perfectly. The movie “The Man Without a Lifeline”, inspired by your life, will be in cinemas in Romania from December 1st. How do you feel about it?

Ionel Sporea: “I originally wrote a novel inspired by my life, Beyond Love and Hate, because I couldn’t bring myself to keep this whole story of my life hidden in the depths of my soul, I felt the need to tell it, how it was, how I lived, both good and bad.

Then I said to myself: “But could I not adapt this novel into a screenplay?” And so it appeared: “A man without a life line”, as a dream come true.

The story of the film begins with the invention – how did the idea of ​​automatically launching table tennis balls come about?

As a child, I played productive table tennis, I was the national champion. Then, after studying and working in the field of technology and engineering, one day I saw a small training robot made by the Swedish company Stiga… and from there I had the idea to improve and modernize it to a much higher level. , to help athletes in their training.

I teamed up with a colleague from IMGB Bucharest, Emil Marian, and together we made the first prototype that was tested and approved by the Table Tennis Federation.

After that, you unjustly ended up behind bars, in Zhylava. What do you remember about that period?

It is very, very difficult to imagine, and especially to accept, that today you are at the “top of the pyramid” from a professional point of view, that you became the world’s first inventor of a modern table tennis training robot, that you received a “Special Prize” at the National Exhibition of Inventions and the International fair of sports materials in Moscow, only to suddenly find himself arrested and sent to the dungeons of the Zhilav prison, without knowing why!

But I imagined that this must be my fate, that I must also go through hell to rise again after this from my own ashes.

In Jilaw, you met Fane Spoitoru.

Fane Spoitoru was the one who saw that I was thrown into this crazy hell, he talked to me and asked me all kinds of questions, he gave me certain answers so that I understood that I was here for a reason other than the reason of that “staging” police… and what reasons should I look for precisely in Moscow.

And I made a “deal” with him that I would teach him English and share together when I got them, once a month, and he would protect me from the “sharks” in prison, who would otherwise probably tear me apart me between my teeth

After the 90s, you left the country. where do you live now

Immediately after the revolution, I was released from prison, but I remained with the label “prisoner”, because neither I nor the outside world knew the “truth of my arrest” at that time, and I realized that I had no other option than to leave the country .

At that time I decided to go to Belgium, where I stayed until July 1994. I then emigrated to Canada, where I completed several specializations in the field of my academic education and succeeded in my professional career, becoming a production and service manager for some of the most famous companies in the world: General Motors (automobiles); Rolls Royce (aviation engines); PACCAR (large tonnage trucks).

However, an accident in 2007 completely changed my life, I was in a wheelchair for seven months, crutches and a cane for about five years, but thanks to the care and love of the Most High, my ambition and will, I managed to walk and overcome this difficult obstacle .

After “retiring” because of that accident at work, the course of my life changed dramatically, I became a writer and screenwriter. I currently travel a lot around the world and live in Spain, Canada and Romania.

Have you ever thought about returning to your country?

I tried to settle permanently in Romania, but it was difficult for me after so many years spent and lived in the West. But you never know what life has in store for me next.

A frame from the film “Man without a lifeline”. Screenshots

Back to the movie, how much is truth and how much is fiction?

I decided to watch the movie of my life only on the cinema screen, and I had this opportunity on November 16 at the Florida Hollywood Film Festival. I am pleased that the full-length film has already attracted the attention of industry specialists, having been selected for screening at genre festivals.

Of course, being a film “inspired” by real events, we adapted the script and in the idea of ​​making a film that would attract the attention of the audience, had some suspense, drama, love and humor. Probably about 75% of it remains tied to the real story of my life.

Did you participate in the making of the film? Were you present at the filming in the Republic of Moldova?

My participation in the film as the author of the script. I am also a financial investor and co-producer. I was very involved, I was involved all the time on the set, and I worked very well with Adriana Vasylkov, the director and general producer of the film.

The role of Ionel Spore is played by actors Armand Calote and Rares Andrici. How do you think they interpreted you?

Being constantly on the set, I consulted and consulted with the two actors all the time, told them how these or other facts and experiences in my life happened. I believe that both played their roles to the fullest.

You left Romania immediately after the fall of the communist regime. How do you see the country now?

Romania has changed a lot recently, people’s living standards have improved, but there is still a lot to do to reach a level comparable to that of the West.

The Romanian people should know better how to choose their leaders, politicians and have more civic responsibility, a higher level of education to better understand certain situations in their lives.

The fact that my eldest son got married and now lives in Timisoara, and I have a three and a half year old granddaughter, makes me come to the country often.

Why should people go to the movies to see The Man Without a Lifebuoy?

I invite the audience to watch a film inspired by real facts, the life of a person who also went through hell, but had the strength and power to rise from his own ashes.

A role model who never considers himself a loser. A film that has everything from drama, love and suspense, with famous actors from the Republic of Moldova and Romania, made by a wonderful production team.

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