Grandma starts shooting in Bucharest

by Stefan Dobroiu

03/04/2012 - Spanish director Jesus del Cerro has begun work on Grandma, a comedy produced by Romania's leading production company MediaPro Pictures, which owns the film studios in Buftea, a town near Bucharest where all Romanian films made before the 1989 Revolution where shot.

The film's star is Stela Popescu (pictured), one of the most popular Romanian actresses in the last half of century. She will be Matilda, an old lady whose peaceful days are over when a seedy entrepreneur (Valentin Teodosiu) realizes that her loft could bring him a fortune. Together with his sons, the real estate shark turns Matilda's life into a nightmare trying to make her leave the building. With some help from her friends and relatives,Matilda will put together a creative counter-attack - at least, that's what the film's synopsis promises.

Produced by Alma Sarbu and written by Collin Blair, the comedy will finish shooting in the last days of April, for a domestic release somewhere in the first half of 2013. The Granny is one of the few Romanian films to be produced without assistance from the National Film Centre.

MediaPro won this year's Audience Award at the Gopos, after their production The Godmother (directed by the same del Cerro) proved to be the most popular domestic release of 2011,with 27,000 admissions. MediaPro won the same award in 2009 for the 2008 release The Survivor, directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu. The company usually produces soap operas and comedies, having two other titles scheduled for release in 2012, The Bride Was Stolen and Ho Ho Ho 2 - A Family Lottery, the sequel to Ho Ho Ho, which was a relative success in 2009.