Past Grant Recipients

It all started in 2002 with screenings of Romanian films in a small art-house cinema, for an audience formed for its greater part of Romanians. Little by little, by publicizing these as much as we could through our channels, and offering briefings both to the public and to specialists, we transformed a film club into a festival with a broad scope, and a very visible presence in the local media. We have a mixed audience of Romanian and British people, with both film amateurs and specialists in attendance.

The Foundation also supported the Romanian presence in The Times BFI London Film Festival, in 2007 and 2008.

Heart of the Tornado, a documentary film about artist Paul Neagu (1938 – 2004), made by Laurentiu and Agnieszka Garofeanu, was also supported.

In 2008 the Foundation was also involved in the Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the most important international documentary film festivals, by supporting the Romanian presence there.

The Ratiu Foundation Award at Astra Film Festival, Sibiu, was first awarded to ‘A Balkan Champion’ by Reka Kincses, in 2006. In 2007, the Award went to Petr Lom, for his documentary ‘On a Tightrope’

The Foundation supported, through the RCC the London International Film Festival (March 2006). Through the Romanian Cultural Centre in London, the Foundation also supported the launch of Tony Gatlif’s film ‘Transylvania’.

The STEPdoc Mobility Grant encourages Romanian documentary film production. First STEPdoc Grants were awarded in Autumn 2007 to film makers Adina Pintilie and Corina Radu, both of whom have already taken advantage of the grant in order to visit the UK for the benefit of their current and future projects.

The Ratiu Foundation runs several drama and poetry projects – such as encouraging new Romanian playwrights to publish:

Support for Uniter (the Romanian Theatre Union)

Co-organising the Corneliu M Popescu Prize for Poetry Translation with the Poetry Society in London. The prize is organised by Poetry Society and sponsored by Ratiu Foundation. The first Award was given in 1983. The prize is £1,500 and the competition is open to collections of poetry translated from a European language into English

Book Launches organised by us: ‘Theft of Romania’ by Tom Gallagher; ‘15 November 1988; The Day we Won’t Forget’ by Stejarel Olaru and Marius Oprea; ‘Remittances and International Migration’ by Alexandra Delcea; ‘National Geographic Traveler: Romania’ by Caroline Juler.

The Ratiu Foundation is funding a number of young Romanian musicians in institutions of higher education in England:

• The Royal College of Music
• The Royal Academy of Music
• The Royal Northern College of Music
• The Guildhall School of Music.

These musicians are appreciated there and many of them have already started to perform with success on stages throughout the UK.

The Foundation also supports a range of projects: CD editing, concerts and so on. Most recently, the Foundation supported the editing of two CDs of the complete works for piano and violin of George Enescu (Haenssler Verlag, Germany), recorded by Remus Azoitei (violin) and Eduard Stan (piano). A concert at Wigmore Hall followed on 15 September 2008.

Romanian Connections program took place in Liverpool, under the patronage of Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008, when the ‘Radu Stanca’ National Theatre of Sibiu performed the “new –classic” Waiting for Godot and brand new The Ball . The Romanian Connections program also included connected events, which gave an extra flavor of Romanian culture.

Culture Power’ is a program initiated by the Ratiu Foundation, consisting of a number of seminars and constructive dialogue with an invited audience.

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