Cinema
The Fiddlers
Lăutarii
Emil Loteanu · 1972
Synopsis
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Toma Alistar, a highly gifted lăutar, leads a troupe of Gypsy musicians across the steppes of Bessarabia. Since childhood, two passions have held him, music and love for the beautiful Leanca, a Gypsy; the young people fight in vain for their happiness and are separated, but Toma does not part with his violin, which he carries along the roads of Moldavia as the memory of Leanca.
Context
Written and directed by its author for Moldova-Film, the film has music by Eugen Doga and Isidor Burdin, the start of a long collaboration between Doga and the filmmaker; the cinematography is by Vitalie Calașnicov, and Serghei Lunchevici plays Toma Alistar. In 1972, at the San Sebastián festival, it received the Silver Shell and the special jury prize. The critic Tudor Caranfil praises in it the richness of the folk song and dance, the ethnographic detail and the echo of the ballad.
Who it is for
A musical film, in which popular tunes take up as much room as the story; no prior knowledge is required.
Prizes and reception
Seen by 13.8 million spectators in Soviet cinemas.