Dorel Visan: We, artists, are not tools to make others laugh, we do apostolate

Actor Dorel Visan declared, on Wednesday, in northeastern Iasi in the opening conference of the Romanian Film Evenings Festival (SFR), an event in its twelfth edition, that artists are not instruments and that they must not forget that no effort is too much for art. "The effort for art is never too great. That's what the artists forgot, I'm sorry. I have beautiful words of praise for those who have worked and continue to work hard for this very well organized, very warm, attentive meeting with the soul. I am amazed that in such an ugly world we live in, people can still find themselves," Dorel Visan said. The great actor of the Romanian scene and film expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that artistic festivals are no longer organized at national level. "These festivals were once of extraordinary importance because they were part of a national cultural policy. Unfortunately, this national cultural policy died with the Cantarea Romaniei / The Singing of Romania, but usually they are small islets that remain locally or outside the local plan that makes us remember that we once had a soul. And we once had a Romanian soul," Dorel Visan added. He emphasized that artists are not "tools" and that theater and film are shrines of culture. "We, the artists, are not tools to make others laugh. We do an apostolate or at least those who are no longer and we will evoke them tomorrow (Draga Olteanu Matei, Stela Popescu, Gheorghe Dinica, Vladimir Gaitan will be evoked on Thursday at the CineMemoriam, ed. n.). Theatre and film are some lay shrines. There are no places of trickeries and manifestation of the weird finds in the heads of some, but there are places where messages of good, truth and beauty are transmitted. These three words the artists can't break them up. One to the other has no value. We forgot one thing, that we are dual. We are made up of matter and spirit, of body and soul. Being made up of these two things, we have two ways of thinking: a materialistic thinking and a spiritualized thinking. The tragedy of the modern world is that man no longer participates with all the thinking of his being, but participates only with materialistic thinking, with thinking in the car, he is the slave of the telephone, he is the slave of computers, he is the slave of idiotic commercials. It is all you want, but it no longer participates with the inner thinking, the inner thinking that opens you to overcome your troubles and that opens you to divine revelation, the only thing that makes sense," the actor stressed. He noted that although man has lost his sense of life, the organization of festivals such as SFR "hold and touch our part of the soul". "Man has lost his meaning of life, but he bursts into other places: he bursts into self-love, he bursts into the desire for power, he bursts into sexuality. All you have to do is look around and see how these things manifest themselves. That's why I believe that such a festival (SFR, ed. n.) and such a meeting must also touch these things that are on our soul side. The soul is the only thing you can lose without realizing it. Anything you lose, be it a book, a child, a lover, a parent, it feels. The soul can be lost without feeling anything, living for years, having responsible functions, having a family and living without a soul. It seems that the drama and film schools are no longer processing these things. Actors become mere entertainment tools and it's not good. This festival so beautifully organized, perhaps even for years to come, should take into account because next year we will be even uglier than we are this year," Dorel Visan said. In his view, "never in mankind has there been such a mockery of man as it is today." "The road of mankind from this hour, whether some like it or not, is moving towards the animalization of man. Never in mankind has there been such a mockery of man as it is today. You can't go into the church, you can't go into the theater unless you obey some wretched people. It's very serious what's happening in the world today and we need to be aware of that," he stressed. The 12th edition of the Romanian Film Evenings Festival takes place in Iasi from 11 to 15 August. The event is organized by ARTIS, with the support of the Iasi City Hall and the National Athenaeum of Iasi. This year's SFR Festival is dedicated to Ion Caramitru, who for medical reasons could not be present at the Opening Gala. The film Stefan Luchian, a 1981 production directed by Nicolae Margineanu, in which Ion Caramitru plays a masterful role, was screened in the Gala. At the Gala were also present actress Maria Ploae, Irina-Margareta Nistor, film critic and ambassador of SFR, and director Nicolae Margineanu. The film this year turns 40 from release. The following film sections will be displayed at this SFR edition: Ion Caramitru Retrospective, Avanpremiera, Premiera, Best Films of 2020/2021, Documentar, CineMemoriam, CINExcelenta, Elisabeth Bostan, Romanian Short Films.AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniela Malache, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - editor: Maria Voican)