Thousands of Romanians lost their lives while working on it between 1950 and 1955. The channel was finally finished during Ceauşescu's regime, 1975 - 1984.
"There are several stories in the film, most of them inspired by real life," Mărgineanu told FNE. The script follows the story of two students caught while trying to cross the Danube and sent to Poarta Albă. Nicolae Mărgineanu co-wrote the film together with Oana Cajal, based on two books, Adrian Oprescu's Cousin Alexandru/Vărul Alexandru and Florin Constantin Pavlovici's Explaining Torture/Tortura pe intelesul tuturor.
In many of his films, Mărgineanu dealt with this dark era which, he notes, is not a common subject for contemporary Romanian filmmakers.
"I would be happy if younger directors would infuse this period with their talent," Mărgineanu told FNE.
His father was a victim of the communist oppression, and he had a cousin who, as a political prisoner, worked at the Channel. His cousin’s stories inspired Mărgineanu as did the stories he heard when he was younger. After finishing Poarta Albă he plans to make a documentary with the testimonies of survivors from Poarta Albă.
The film is produced by Mărgineanu himself through his company Ager Film. The budget is approximately 500,000 EUR/ 2.2 m RON of which 224,000 EUR/990,000 RON comes from a production grant received from the National Center for Cinema in April 2013. The film is also produced with the contribution of Romanian public television.
Shooting was not easy. The sequences involving the channel, the building yard and the stone pit were shot in Dobrogea for seven days, and the barracks sequences were shot 20 km from Bucharest over a period of 28 days. Shooting took place in August-November 2013 with a winter sequence shot early 2014. The cast includes Cristian Bota, Sergiu Bucur, Mădălina Craiu, Bogdan Nechifor, Marius Turdeanu and Mihai Bica.
The sound mixing was done in the Czech Republic at Studio Virtual Prague. The film is expected to be finished at the end of May with the official premiere set for November 2014, but when speaking to FNE the director didn't know if the film would have a pre-premiere at Transylvania IFF. The film will be distributed in Romania by Cinemagix.
Production Information
38 Matei Basarab, 3rd floor, Bucharest 3
Phone: +40(0)21 3224418
Fax: +40(0)21 2329792
www.agerfilm.ro
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Credits
Director: Nicolae Mărgineanu
Script: Oana Cajal, Nicolae Mărgineanu
DoP: Mihai Sârbuşcă
Editor: Nita Chivulescu
Art direction: Nicodim Dumitru
Cast: Cristian Bota, Sergiu Bucur, Mădălina Craiu, Bogdan Nechifor, Marius Turdeanu, Mihai Bica, Tudor Smoleanu, Constantin Cojocaru, Virgil Aioanei
