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Early life and education
Sergiu Nicolaescu was born in Târgu Jiu, but he grew up in Timişoara, where his family moved when he was 5 years old. He graduated from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest as a mechanical engineer. After graduation he started to work as a camera operator.
Film director
Nicolaescu's debut as a director was in 1962 with the short film Scoicile nu au vorbit niciodată (Shells Have Never Spoken). His first feature film was the 1966 French-Romanian co-production Dacii (Les Guerriers). Nicolaescu continued his film-making career by directing a large number of movies and also starring in many of his own movies.
Most of Nicolaescu's movies are centered on figures and events in Romanian history, and be they with a greater realism, they somehow followed the patterns of the historical movies in the Communist countries. During the Communist period, some of his movies were seen as ground-breaking through their way of publicly presenting Romanian history, while other insisted on a heroical dimension. For instance, the movie "Războiul independenţei" was the first Communist-era Romanian file to present a Romanian king (namely Carol I) in a positive fashion. On the other hand, Mircea (1989, also known as Proud Heritage) is less realized artistically, including elements of personality cult and a legendary, standardised version of reality, common in the European communist countries. Nevertheless, Mircea was officially blocked from distribution, until the Romanian Revolution of 1989 (All I've done was to present a differet state leader than Ceauşescu. He understood and stopped the movie [from premiere])[1]. After the latter, Nicolaescu expanded on historical themes, directing films that shed a positive light on Ion Antonescu, Romania's Axis-aligned dictator in the World War II period (his Începutul adevărului, also known as Oglinda), or glorified the World War I heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu (Triunghiul morţii, "Triangle of Death").
An accomplished director of battle scenes, Nicolaescu allegedly produces 70-80 meters of useful shots in the time that the average other director would take to produce 12-15 meters.[2]
Although his recent films have not been as popular as his earlier productions, he continues to direct new films, such as Orient Express (2004) or Cincisprezece (2005), a love story set against the background of the 1989 Revolution.
Politician
Nicolaescu began a career as a politician after the Romanian Revolution and was elected to the Romanian Senate in 1992 as a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party.
Feature films
- Dacii - 1967
- Lupta pentru Roma (co-director Robert Siodmack) - 1968
- Ciorap de piele (co-director Pierre Gaspard-Huit) - 1968
- Ultimul mohican - 1968
- Lacul din Ontario - 1968
- Preeria - 1968
- Mihai Viteazul - 1971
- Atunci i-am condamnat pe toţi la moarte - 1972
- Cu mâinile curate - 1972
- Lupul mărilor (co-director Wolfgang Staudt) - 1972
- Răzbunarea - 1972
- Ultimul cartuş - 1973
- Un comisar acuză - 1974
- Nemuritorii - 1974
- Insula comorilor - 1975
- Piraţii - 1975
- Zile fierbinţi - 1975
- Osânda - 1976
- Accident - 1977
- Războiul independenţei (Pentru patrie) (co-directors Doru Năstase, Gh. Vitanidis) - 1977
- Revanşa - 1978
- Nea Mărin miliardar - 1978
- Mihail, câine de circ - 1978
- Ultima noapte - 1979
- Capcana mercenarilor - 1980
- Duelul - 1981
- Întâlnirea - 1982
- Viraj periculos - 1982
- Ringul - 1983
- Căutatorii de aur - 1985
- Ciuleandra - 1985
- Ziua Z - 1985
- Noi, cei din linia întâi - 1986
- François Villon (film) - 1987
- Mircea - 1989
- Coroana de foc - 1990
- Cucerirea Angliei - 1990
- Începutul adevărului - 1993
- Punctul zero - 1996
- Triunghiul morţii - 1999
- Orient Express - 2004
- Cincisprezece - 2005
- Supravieţuitorul - released on April 11 2008
External links
- "Supravietuitorul"/ Sergiu Nicolaescu at the Internet Movie Database
- Sergiu Nicolaescu at the Internet Movie Database
- Official site
