Gerard Depardieu Stars in Romanian Cult Film Remake

Deep in the heart of Romania, in the Mureş County, Gerard Depardieu is undertaking a rare enterprise: the remake of one of the gems of Romanian film-making, “The Death of Ipu”, based on a short story by Titus Popovici. The plot takes us to the days of the German retreat from Romania, in late 1944, as Romanian and Soviet troops were pushing West. A German soldier is killed by partisans in a Romanian village and the German commander announces reprisals against the civilians. The village mayor, priest, policeman, teacher and notary have their wives arrange a feast for the village “under-dog”, a man named Ipu, in an against-the-clock attempt to persuade him to take the blame for the entire village. 

Romanian-Dutch Schengen Row Seems Unofficial State Policy

Romania’s seisure of a dozen Dutch lorries shipping in flowers from Holland as an alleged retaliation on Friday’s Dutch opposition to Romania’s accession to Schengen is anything but new, claim the Romanian media. France has also been targeted by similar retaliatory tactics, during Paris’ opposition to Romania’s admission to Schengen. Two major French companies under governmental contracts in Romania saw their contracts lost or almost lost, coincidentally at the very same time with the Romanian-French stalemate on the Schengen issue.