10-05-2010

FNE at Cannes: EFP Producer on the Move Daniel Burlac

By Iulia Blaga

    For Romania's Producer on the Move Daniel Burlac, a graduate of FEMIS (Paris) and participant in the EAVE and ACE training programmes in 2006 and 2007, working in Romanian cinema is an enriching experience.

    {mosimage}"I feel very connected with the European spirit, and as a Romanian producer I want to give something to the European cinema. I would be happy to be part of projects that could prove how strong the Romanian potential really is." However, Daniel Burlac doesn't have a special focus. He told FNE he would be happy to produce a film that could sell one million tickets in Romania, in order to show that the Romanian producers know how to attract the audience. "I am extremely open to any kind of projects. The only thing that interests me is to make films I believe in," he says.

    But it's a matter of taking "the right steps at the right time."

    "What I want is that one day I could sit at the same table with Clint Eastwood and the Coen brothers and propose a new project to them."

    Burlac is open to working all geographical areas. His next international project is for Georgian company Nikê Studio to work as a producer for Keep Smiling, a comedy made by Rusudan Chkonia. Shooting starts in Tbilisi, in August. Immediately following is an Albanian-Greek-French-Romanian coproduction, Carrefour, by the Albania's Robert Budina, whose cast includes Asia Argento, Billy Zane, Arta Dobroshi, Allyson Paradis and Eric Cantona. Burlac will be the delegate producer and the shooting will start in winter. Burlac's third international project is Lullaby For My Father, by Amos Gitai, a long documentary produced by Les Films d'Ici (France) and Elefant Films (Switzerland).

    In Romania Burlac will produce Broken Rib, by Igor Cobileanski, now in development, with Saga Film and Alex Teodorescu. He is also associate producer and delegate producer for Adalbert's Dream by Gabriel Achim, whose shooting starts in May.

    Burlac was associate producer on Cristian Mungiu's Golden Palm winner 4 Months, 3 Weekes and 2 Days in 2007, and production manager on Corneliu Porumboiu's Camera d'Or-winning 12.08 East of Bucharest in 2006. He was also promotion manager for Cristian Mungiu's Occident, which screened in the Directors' Fortnight in 2000, and Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr Lăzărescu which won Un Certain Regard's Grand Prix in 2005. Earlier credits include production assistant on Alexandre Arcady's Entre chiens et loups (2000), Costa Gavras' Amen, and Laurent Boutonnat's Jacquou le croquant (2005). More recently he served as a production manager on Alexandre Iordachescu's The Way Beyond/L'enfance d'Icar (2009), and he was delegate producer for Horaţiu Mălăele's The Silent Wedding (2008) and for Napoleon Toader's Wedding in Bessarabia (2009). His latest film is Outbound (2010), the first feature of Bogdan George Apetri, where he served as a delegate producer.

    Contact information:

    Elefant Films
    Calea Mosilor 123
    Bucharest, Romania
    Tel. +40-74-6242 635This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.