Cinematographer of film awarded with top prize at Cannes is from Moldova

The photography director of the film “4 luni, 3 saptamini, 2 zile” (“4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”), directed by Cristian Mungiu and awarded with Palme d’Or at the 60th edition of the Cannes Festival, is Oleg Mutu, who was born in Moldova. Being established in Bucharest for some years, he managed to sign the cinematography for some of the most representative films of the new Romanian wave, among which is “Moartea Domnului Lazarescu”(“The Death of Mister Lazarescu”), that was also awarded a prize at Cannes in 2003 at the section “Un Certain Regard”. According to the Romanian media, Oleg Mutu is one of the most appreciated European cameramen. He was the author of the cinematography for “Un cartus de Kent si un pachet de cafea” by Cristi Puiu, that got the “Golden Bear” a the short film section (Berlin, 2004), he worked with Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu, Alexandru Solomon, Andrei Blaier, Hanno Hofer, George Adamescu and with Bruno Coppola (this film brought him the prize for Outstanding Cinematography at the Festival in Indianapolis, in 2004) He was born in Chisinau on July 22, 1972, he studied at a school of physics and mathematics, between 1994-1996 he was a cameraman for the BBC School of Journalism. Since 1996, he has been an camera operator for the sports news desk at Pro TV (thus gaining a spectacular experience – he filmed in 1998 the football matches for the World Cup, in France; in 1996 he actively registers Camel Trophy Expedition in South America (Argentina, Chile); in 1999 – the Annual Auto Exhibition Detroit), he filmed musical videos (for Mircea Vintila, Pepe, Non Stop and others), he created commercial and advertisement movies, documentary films and short science fiction fils, for example: “Romanii din Siberia”(“The Romanians from Siberia ”), 1996. In an interview with BBC at Cannes, Oleg Mutu confesses the formula that makes him to be so demanded for providing the cinematography for the most important Romanian films of the moment. “Every festival, especially Cannes, offers you a lot of chances. It depends on how you profit from all these opportunities and on what you want to do”, Mutu said.