Presentation file / teaser

TOGETHER AS ONE
Producer: Alexandru Teodorescu
Screenwriter/ Director : Vasile Alboiu
Genre : love story, dark comedy
Duration : 20 minutes
Langauge : Romanian
Country of origin : Romania
Contact : alexteodorescu@sagafilm.ro
rmanescu@sagafilm.ro
The story
The film is a stop motion animation. It’s the beginning of the 20th century in
France. Madame Sournes, an extortive woman, is marrying her beautiful
daughter to M. Gluand, a rich old doctor. But what she doesn’t know is that
Madelene has agreed to this deal only because she is in love with the
doctor’s protégée, Marcel. The two start a hidden secret romance after the
marriage. However, their secret is soon found out by the doctor, who
discovers one of their love notes. Looking for vengeance, he decides to sew
the two lovers together, as this, he thinks, is their only wish, which he takes ad
literam: to finally be together as one.
Director’s bio
Vasile Alboiu is a Romanian creative director and passionate animator. He is
currently working as creative director in one of Romania’s most prestigious
advertising companies, but he dedicates his spare time to the applied study
of animation. During the past years, he has tutored many animation
workshops for Anim’est, the biggest Romanian animation film festival.
“TOGETHER AS ONE” will be his directorial debut animated short.
Producer’s bio
Alexandru Teodorescu, an EAVE graduate, is the director of Saga Film. All of
Saga Film’s projects are linked to his name and are made under his strict
supervision and with his creative input. At Saga Film, Alexandru co-produced
the Palme D’or winner “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days”, directed by Cristian
Mungiu. He then turned to producing debut features, making Saga Film the of
the few Romanian production companies that encourage and support
young directors. Bogdan Apetri’s debut, OUTBOUND (2011), premiered at
Locarno IFF and was awarded a FIPRESCI prize at Warsaw IFF and Vienna IFF.
The debut feature of Igor Cobileanski, THE UNSAVED (2013), was nominated
for 11 awards by the Romanian Film Industry in 2014.
Production company profile
Saga Film is one of the biggest production companies in Romania. In 2007, it
co-produced the Palme d'Or winner, "4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS and 2 DAYS",
directed by Cristian Mungiu. In 2010, Saga Film produced the debut feature
"OUTBOUND", directed by Bogdan Apetri, after a story by Cristian Mungiu and
Ioana Uricaru. The film premiered at Locarno IFF. In 2013, Saga Film produced
"THE UNSAVED", directed by Igor Cobileanski, with a script by Corneliu
Porumboiu. The film was nominated for 11 awards by the Romanian Film
Industry in 2014.
DIRECTOR’S LETTER OF ARTISTIC INTENT
“Together as one” is a love story. It doesn’t, however, play by an every day’s
love story’s rules, the protagonists of the story being, excelusively, anti-heros.
In our story, humanity and emotion co-exist together, crawling, sulking, being
as visceral as possible. The characters might not be aesthetic, but they
certainly are emotional, exciting and disturbingly, similar to what one can find
in the real world.
Street of Crocodiles, directed by the brothers Quai
Love has always been one of the major themes in art. We often see ordinary
people who fall in love and become extra-ordinary; Love gives them the
capacity to overcome all the obstacles that others throw in their way, and in
the end of every love story, the lovers live happily ever after.
I have always felt more attracted to the “damned” lovers, the ones that
didn’t make it to the “happily ever after”. Take for instance, Adam and Eve,
Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, or Romeo and Juliet. They are the unhappy
pairs and somehow, the ones that touch our hearts the most.
“Together as one” is not a story about the love that overcomes all obstacles
and it’s not a story about beautiful people, animated by wonderful ideals. On
the contrary! Lies, betrayal and above all else, solitude are comfortably
nesting withing our characters’ souls. But this doesn’t make them less human.
It might be that this slice of life, even though darker, is the thing that brings out
their humanity, in the sense that this is what makes them alive.
Street of Crocodiles, directed by the brothers Quai
I chose to illustrate this story using stop motion animation, because I think that
this technique allows me to further emphasize the mask behind the
characters. The characters will be animated puppets, just like their hearts are
briefly animated by the feelings they live.
VISUALS
Paris, the beginning of the 20th century
Doctor’s Glouand cabinet
Madame Sournes
Doctor Glouand
Doctor Glouand
Madlene
Marcel
Marcel