Maledictis

Maledictis is a 2023 indie historical short film, written and directed by Sandor Vlad, produced and distributed by Scarpia Productions. Full movie

A writer of comic poems against communism in Romania, in the late 50s, finds himself in trouble when he is wanted and persecuted by the National Security Services. He begins to reflect on his personal life and question his decisions in life, while making a last effort to remain in history.

It is based on the tragic life of Pastorel Teodoreanu, openly criticizing the Romanian People's Republic, a communist socialist regime. In the end, he ends up being arrested and imprisoned in one of the most odious prisons with the worst conditions in Eastern Europe, due to which he died a year after his release.

Plot

Act I

Pastorel Teodoreanu is visiting the residence of Constantin Noica, in Campulung, having an intense discussion with his friend about his illness and his passion for writing, which leads to the start of a new anti-communist literary activity by Pastorel.

Act II

After a year, Pastorel has already collected his material and is ready to distribute it, when he receives a call from Constantin Botez, a lawyer with whom he spoke a few years ago, who holds a discussion through which he extracts a lot of information about his life and finally denounces Pastorel to the Security.

Act III

Now, locking himself in his house, waiting for the moment when the Security Guards come after him impatiently, he calls his wife for a final farewell, remembering and regretting the decisions in his life.

Cast

Full cast of the film
Actors	Characters
Lupu Andrei George	as Pastorel Teodoreanu
Chiriac David	as Constantin Noica
Constantin Raul	as Constantin Botez
Denisa Onisie	as Marta Teodoreanu

Production

Pre-production took place between the summer and winter of 2022, with the script being finished on December 16.

The production took place between December 20 and February 14, using as filming locations a house preserved almost identically as it was in the 50'-60', offering a setting that made the film even more historically accurate.

The post-production lasted around a month, in which the musical movements were chosen, these being representative of the classical musical current, with selections from Wagner, Verdi and Puccini.

Reception

The film was selected for Filmmaker Sessions March 2023, hosted by Pinewood Studios.

"I loved this film, front the story, characters, plot lines, cinematography, editing, music choices and title card design, the true story behind this film, everything is made with passion and love for the 7th art, and the art of story telling, that you mastered in this work of art. But let's not forget that this young man, made this film by himself with some friends and it's so effective for what it is, that it has no rival on what i've seen in short films topic works, made by a young director for a long time, and this is amazing from my point of view!" - Rares Cimpean Gabriel

"A very well-made short movie, very effective in the message transmitted about the terror of „Securitate‟ and the communist regime which riposted very violent towards any criticism. Even better than big budget Romanian movies with the same story.

The uverture and entr`acte could have been shorter, they`re too long for a 33 minutes movie, but the music choice is excellent. For such a young creator, this movie is excellent.

All I can do is wish him good luck in future endeavours and maybe one day he will be our next Palme d'Or winner." - Petre Mihai Nicolae