Production designer Radu Boruzescu awarded honorary doctorate by UNATC

Scenographer Radu Boruzescu on Thursday was awarded a honorary doctorate by the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC) of Bucharest at an event at UNATC's Ileana Berlogea Hall before a large audience. On January 30, "the university youth" and UNATC professors in Bucharest celebrate UNATC day and its patron, the genius of the Romanian dramaturgy, playwright Ion Luca Caragiale. This year's UNATC holiday was dedicated to scenographer Radu Boruzescu. UNATC has also dedicated January 30 and 31 to Radu Boruzescu when three of the films whose production he designed will be screened. In two of them he also played a lead role. "To mark January 30, UNATC Day, the birth anniversary of Ion Luca Caragiale, our spiritual patron and I would say not only of our institution, but of our country as well, the UNATC Senate has decided this year to award an honorary doctorate degree to Mr Radu Boruzescu, honoring both his film and drama career. Thank you, Radu, for accepting it, for having come from so far, from Paris," chairman of the UNATC Senate Doru Nitescu said at the opening of the event. UNATC Rector Liviu Lucaci said that this day celebrates "excellence in a field of art, such as the province where Radu Boruzescu has excelled, UNATC day," for all the composition and componence of those who were, are and will contribute to the growth of this university." Director and screenwriter Laurentiu Damian, chairman of the Romanian Filmmakers Union (UCIN), mentioned in the laudatio speech the career of the scenographer, who has made a name for himself both in Romania and abroad. "Laudatio, dear Radu, is something that may be academic, may be arid or may, I think, be different. I have tried a different kind of laudatio because I wanted and I hope to convey a little emotion to the great emotion that Radu and Miruna have given us, have generated in us on the stage of theatres, in cinemas all over the world. (...) Dear Radu, dear Miruna, here is the moment of laudatio, of words that will never contain the endeavours of your existence dedicated to theatre and film," said Damian. The UCIN chairman presented Radu Boruzescu with a special prize for his entire career. "The filmmakers give him a diploma, a common diploma. It is a diploma that contains two prizes: A prize is hereby awarded to Miruna Boruzescu, the award is presented to Radu Boruzescu, for all the emotion he has produced over time," he showed. Boruzescu confessed that he was very excited about both the title awarded by UNATC and the fact that he had the opportunity to meet many friends along whom he has worked throughout his career. "I did not expect to receive the title at all. I am amazed in a way, especially since 27 years have passed since I left Romania. I have returned several times in a kind of anonymity that is pleasant to us and I am very sad that Miruna [Miruna Boruzescu, the scenographer's wife] is no longer with us; in a way something broke that conditioned my appearance here, because all our life we were together," Boruzescu told AGERPRES. The event was attended by, among others, Florin Zamfirescu, Mircea Diaconu, George Ivascu, Cristian Sofron, and director Theodor-Cristian Popescu. Boruzescu's prodigious artistic creation includes films, stage and opera performances that have marked the theatrical and cinematic life of Europe and the United States. The more than five decades of uninterrupted creation began on the stage of the IATC Casandra Studio, as far back as his university years in 1968, with the show "The Giants of the Mountain" by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Gina Ionescu. In 1973, after his show "The Government Inspector" by N. Gogol was banned, he was invited by film director Lucian Pintilie to move to France with his wife and constant collaborator, costume designer Miruna Boruzescu. Two years later, they settled there. Over time, both artists have contributed decisively to the creation of masterpieces of the world drama and opera: "Turandot" by C. Gozzi; "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov; "The Wild Duck" by H. Ibsen; "The Seagull" by A.P. Chekhov; "The Lower Depths " by M. Gorki; "Tartuffe" by Moliere; "Carmen" by C. Bizet; "The Magic Flute" by W.A. Mozart - all directed by Lucian Pintilie, "Macbett" by E. Ionesco; "The Little Square" by C. Goldoni; "Waiting for Godot" by S. Beckett"; Twelfth Night" by W. Shakespeare, "Falstaff" by G. Verdi - directed by Liviu Ciulei, "As You Like It" by W. Shakespeare, "The Master and Margarita" by M. Bulgakov - staged by Andrei Serban. Radu and Miruna Boruzescu also collaborated with Iulian Mihu, Dan Pita and Mircea Veroiu, Sergiu Nicolaescu, Alexandru Tatos, Radu Penciulescu, David Esrig, Horea Popescu, Petrica Ionescu, Robert Carsen, Dusan Makavejev, Rudolf Nureyev, Claude Regy. AGERPRES (RO - author: Petronius Craiu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)