"The Ingenious Amateur"

After more than 4 years of filming the funniest
film about Vasile Laza Arpad, called "Gagarin"

EUR 12,- DVD
EUR 5,- Download the film
Duration: 45 min

As his father Mihai, more than 90 years old, accurately observes, Vasile Laza Arpad has had his foot more than once in the proverbial door. But he insistently tripped as many times over the other, his left foot. Whether he failed in his early intents to fly from the shingle-thatched roof of his pig-sty, as the community gossip in this remote valley went, or in his hopeful attempts to study mathematics in Cluj, the big city, crossing the notorious threshold always proved too much for Vasile.

However, Vasile never despairs, on the contrary, as a bizarre wanderer between different worlds he created a magnificent recess for himself: Photography. Unnoticed and smirked at by the others, he produced something unique, even imperishable. Right at the beginning of the film he hands me a plastic bag with hundreds of negative reels, yield of 30 years of photography.

Ironically, Vasile himself is not aware of what kind of treasure he gave away. In the following 5 years I was lucky to have the opportunity to film his wonderful parents. Vasile, too, used several cameras during this time, so, as it turned out, I got the chance to observe this “ingenious amateur” firsthand. Then happened what had to happen sooner or later, given his parents’ advanced age. First, his beloved mother passed away, then, a short time later, his father died at the age of 96. Vasile himself is well advanced in years, too, and, as he never found a suitable wife, he would have ended up with both feet in a home had his smart father Mihai not provided for his son in his living years, as you will be able to admire in this film.