Patra Spanou Film Acquires Paul Negoescu’s Study of Modern Masculinity ‘Men of Deeds’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Boutique German sales agent Patra Spanou Film has acquired international sales rights to “Men of Deeds,” the fourth feature by Romanian director Paul Negoescu (“Two Lottery Tickets”), which will be presented in a closed screening for industry guests on June 24 at the Transilvania Film Festival.The film tells the story of llie (Iulian Postelnicu), a small-town police chief who wants to build a modest, comfortable life for himself but makes all the wrong choices.

Middle-aged and alienated, he feels the need to be a part of something – to build an orchard, even a home. But his past combines with a series of violent events to push him toward a dark place, where he’s desperate to find solutions in his search for justice. “Men of Deeds” is produced by Anamaria Antoci and co-produced by Poli Angelova.

Production companies are Papillon Film, Tangaj Production, Screening Emotions and Avanpost Production. Negoescu said in a statement that after receiving the script from Radu Romaniuc and Oona Tudor, he hesitated for more than six months before agreeing to direct the film. “I realized…that llie is the kind of character I was always interested in, even if the stories I wrote were mostly urban stories of middle-class men,” he said. “But in all these characters, I was interested in their inadaptation and inability to connect to their emotions.

llie is this kind of a character.”The film is set in Bucovina, a region nestled on the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains where traditional, patriarchal norms dictate daily life. “Men are told since they are young children how they have to behave and what is their goal in life: they have to be strong, they have to dominate, they must start a family and must be successful in.