Ars Christiana

The film Scara (2021), directed by Vlad Păunescu from a screenplay by Constantin Chelba, follows the existential journey of the actor Andrei Avram, inspired by the life of Dragoș Pâslaru, set against the backdrop of the Romanian theatre scene in the final years of communism and the turmoil of the transition period, culminating in the protagonist’s transformation through suffering, the film’s central theme.

The Greek television series Saint Paisios – From Farasa to Heaven, broadcast in February 2022 on Mega TV and Alpha TV Cyprus, is analysed as a pan-Orthodox social and cultural phenomenon, within the context of Balkan and international hagiographic cinema. The study examines the literary and documentary popularisation of the life of the Venerable Paisios of Mount Athos, the challenges of adapting a hagiographic biography for the general public, and the artistic limitations of the series in relation to both the religious and the wider audience.

The first edition of the Quo Vadis International Film Festival, held in Iași from 7 to 10 November 2024 under the auspices of the Doxologia Missionary Cultural Centre, brought recent Christian Orthodox films from Serbia, Greece, the USA and Romania, bringing together directors, actors and film enthusiasts on a platform for cultural and spiritual dialogue centred on the theme of freedom.

Dan Pița’s film Ecce Homo Brâncoveanu (2024) re-enacts the martyrdom of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu and his family, drawing on a Christian lament and a historical parable, with Dorel Vișan in the role of the steward Cantacuzino. The review highlights a low-budget film with laudable iconic ambitions, but one marred by modest set design, uneven acting and insufficient resources.

The Monk and the Demon (2016), the final film by Russian director Nikolai Dostal, based on a screenplay by Yuri Arabov, is a dramatic comedy blending folk parable, hagiographic fable and theological inquiry into the relationship between man and the devil, set in a nineteenth-century monastery. Following monk Ivan and the demon Legion through a series of fantastical adventures culminating in Jerusalem, the film raises the provocative question of whether fallen angels can be humanised through love and repentance.