2023 Conclusions:
- completed casting processes for feature films: Blindsight directed by Adrian Sitaru, Blue Banks directed by Andreea Borțun, Ink Wash directed by Sarra Tsorakidis, and The Great Adventure directed by Cecilia Ștefănescu, but also for creative documentaries: The Art of Stealing, directed by Jorien Van Nes, One of Us directed by Rachel Close and Things We Said Today directed by Andrei Ujică.
- lead workshops for young professionals in film and theater industries.
News
- Blindsight written and directed by Adrian Sitaru, produced by Tangaj Production and Domestic Film
- Blue Banks/ Malul Vânăt written and directed by Andreea Borțun, produced by Atelier de film
- Ink Wash written by Sarra Tsorakidis and Ilinca Hărnuț and directed by Sarra Tsorakidis, produced by Mandragora
- The Great Adventure/ Marea Aventură written and directed by Cecilia Ștefănescu, produced by Libra Film Productions
Also, the contribution to several creative documentaries gives the casting director so much inspiration and joy, working with different filmmakers: The Art of Stealing, directed by Jorien Van Nes and Things We Said Today directed by Andrei Ujică, both produced by Tangaj Production and One of Us directed by Rachel Close, produced by Manifest Film.
Besides ongoing projects, Florentina Bratfanof was invited to lead workshops and discussions meeting students and young professionals in theatre and film industry, at Sibiu Youth Festival, event produced by Gong Theatre, ID Sîrbu Dramatic Theatre, Petroșani and Center for pedagogy and image study „Sorin Botoșeneanu”, UNATC, Bucharest.
Between casting processes and workshops the main need of casting director will be to give away and inspire professionals in theatre and film industry to partner with a casting director for the benefit of their creative projects. Therefore, Florentina Bratfanof interviewed four succesful Romanian Casting Directors to shed more light about their role. The interview was published by Scena.ro - Magazine for Performing Arts, in Romanian language.
2022
February - During General Assembly of ICDN Florentina Bratfanof was elected to be one of the advisory board members.
April -June - jury member for nominating Semiramis Best Casting Award, Florentina Bratfanof being one of the ICDN members that watched 19 films produced around the world.
8th of May - leader of the Casting Workshop for Babes Bolyai University Cluj, designed specially for the 3rd year students, acting studies.
17-26 June - 10 for film Coordinator of the 11th Edition - an industry programme during Transilvania International Film Festival, Cluj, during which Florentina Bratfanof was responsible with programme curation and organisation of the event, including workshops, meetings, talks with industry professionals, online Meet and Greet with ICDN Members etc.
22-24 th of June - leader of Self Tape Workshop for professional actors, together with the actress, director and acting coach, Bettina Lohmeyer (DE), during TRansilvania International Film Festival
In 2022, Florentina Bratfanof completed the casting process of:
HORIAwritten and directed by Ana Maria Comanescu: https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/427193/
on going casting processes for:
BLINDSIGHT written and directed by Adrian Sitaru, produced by Tangaj Production (Anamaria Antoci)
A CASE OF PRACTICE/ UN CAZ DE PRACTICA written and directed by Radu Jude, produced by Domestic Film and MIcroFilm
BLUE BANKS/ MALUL VANAT written and directed by Andreea Bortun, produced by Atelier de Film (Gabriela Suciu), Films de Force Majeure, Perfo
2021:
15 -24 October, Bucharest - jury member for the 11th edition of Bucharest Fringe - The Independent Theatre Marathon
4-6 October, Iasi - leader of Self Tape Workshop for professional actors, in Iasi, together with the actress, director and acting coach, Bettina Lohmeyer (DE), during Iasi International Theatre Festival for Young Audience
27-29 august, Focsani - trainer for teens on How to make a video presentation of yourself that could impress the viewers @ Boovie Festival
In 2020, Florentina Bratfanof completed the casting process of three Romanian films：
- To The North/ Spre Nord written and directed by Mihai Mincan, produced by deFILM, currenty in postproduction: https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/398698
- Men of Deeds / Oameni de treabă directed by Paul Negoescu, produced by Tangaj Production, currenty in postproduction: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14820500/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
- Victus/ Tigrul written and directed by Andrei Tanase, produced by Domestic Film, currenty in postproduction: https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/405010/
2020:
Florentina Bratfanof, together with Bettina Lohmeyer (acting coach, actor and director), set up to deliver Self Tape Workshop (online via zoom from 30th of September til 2nd of October) for Romanian Actors.
- Florentina Bratfanof entered the professional association - International Casting Directors Network
Both proud and joyfull that some projects I worked for in the last two years got further recognition of the film industry and have the chance to be experienced by a bigger audience:
TOUCH ME NOT written and directed by Adina Pintilie, produced by Manekino Film, got Gopo Debut Award
- 2 feature films (Dan Chișu’s 5 minute / 5 Minutes Too Late, produced by Domestic Film and Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s Și poate mai trăiesc și azi / And They May Still Be Alive Today, produced by Libra Film Productions) and 3 short films (Basmofilia / Fairy Fever (dir. Tudor Cristian Jugiu, produced by deFilm); Corigent (dir. George ve Ganaeaard); Idila (dir. Mihai Mincan, produced by deFilm);) were selected at Trasilvania International Film Festival:
- OTTO THE BARBARIAN written and directed by Ruxandra Ghitescu, produced by Alien Film entered in the international competition of Sarajevo Film Festival
- ALONG CAME A PRINCE, directed by Cristina Grosan, produced by Tangaj Production was selected at Anonimul IFF
- EST - DITTATURA LAST MINUTE, written and directed by Antonio Pisu, produced by Genoma Films was selected in Giornate degli Autori at Venice Film Festival
2019: 3 shortfilms I have worked on were selected at Anonimul IFF: Anonimul Line Up:
- WASHINGTON, directed by Gabriel Achim
- CHRONOCHINESIA OR THE CASE OF THE YOUNG TIME HOPPER | CRONOCHINEZIA SAU CAZUL TÂNĂRULUI SĂRITOR ÎN TIMP, directed by Radu Bărbulescu
- THE AFGHANISTANS | AFGANISTANII, directed by Adrian Silişteanu
!!!! 'Touch Me Not' written and directed by Adina Pintilie won The Golden Bear and GWFF Best First Feature Award at Berlinale 2018.
About
In 2000 I began to work in a small independent theatre in Bucharest and for 10 years I supported in various level the artistic process, as coordinator, PR officer, artistic consultant.
In 2011 I began working in the film industry as a Talent Scouter, discovering, little by little, the creative process behind a Casting Director's work.
Since 2014 I am proudly working independently as Casting Director for producers and directors I value artistically, always having in mind the huge potential of Romanian actors.
Credit profile photo: Norbert Fodor
Casting Director & Other Works
2020/2021 - Casting Director for feature film BLINDSIGHT written and directed by Adrian Sitaru, produced by TANGAJ Production, on going casting process;
2020 / 2021 - Casting Director for feature film HORIA written and directed by Ana-Maria Comănescu, produced by Micro FILM, ongoing casting process;
2020/2021 - Casting Director for feature film PATIMILE LUI ȘTEFAN directed by Alexandru Maftei, produced by Aliens Entertainment, ongoing casting process;
2020 - voice over Casting Director for animated short VIZKOVITZ written and directed by Serghei Chivirigă, produced by deFILM;
2019/ 2021 - Casting Director for feature film VICTUS/TIGRUL written and directed by Andrei Tănase, produced by Domestic Film, ongoing casting process;
2019/ 2021 - Casting Director for feature film MEN OF DEEDS/ OAMENI DE TREABĂ written by Radu Romaniuc and Oana Tudor, directed by Paul Negoescu, produced by TANGAJ Production;
2018/ 2021 - Casting Director for feature film To The North written and directed by Mihai Mincan, produced by deFilm;
2018 – Casting Director for Microhistory – Real Stories Told Live, part two, produced by Romanian Association for Performing Arts [www.microistoria.ro]
2018 – Casting Director for feature film The Gendarme written and directed by Dan Chisu, Produced by Domestic Film/ Anamaria Antoci
- Casting Director for feature film Otto The barbarian written and directed by Ruxandra Ghitescu, Produced by Alien Fim/ Iuliana Tarnovetchi
- Casting Director for feature film Si poate mai traiesc si azi, written and directed by Tudor Jurgiu, produced by Libra Film
- Casting Director for feature film La Foret d' Argent written and directed by Emmanuel Bourdieu, produced by Italique Productions and Zadig Productions for Arte France.
2018 - Casting Director for several shorts:
- Cearsaful written and directed by George Ganeard, produced by 4proof Film
- Afganistanii written by Claudia and Adrian Silisteanu, directed by Adrian Silisteanu, produced by Domestic Film
- Despre noi written and directed by Ruxandra Ghitescu, produced by Alien Film/ Iuliana Tarnovetchi
- Idila written and directed by Mihai Mincan, produced by deFilm
2017 – Casting Director for Microhistory – Real Stories Told Live, part one - produced by Romanian Association for Performing Arts
Real people living in Romania, coming from all social classes and ethnic, age and gender categories are going on stage to tell a story which changed their lives. Each story is true and each voice is authentic, so the shows fall in between documentary and theater. The result is a picture of Romania today, 100 years after the moment this country was founded. A complex, deeply moving puzzle able to inspire the audience, a live archive.The art of storytelling becomes one more time an instrument of knowledge and a way of learning tolerance.
www.microistoria.ro
2017 – Casting Director for several shorts:
Padurarul written and directed by Norbert Fodor, produced by deFilm;
Trafic de 6 written and directed by Raluca David, produced by 4Proof Film/ Anamaria Antoci;
Washington written and directed by Gabriel Achim, produced by Green Film/ Anamaria Antoci;
Tanarul saritor in timp/ Chronochinezia written by Filip Columbeanu, directed by Radu Barbulescu, produced by Alien Film;
Basmofilia written and directed by Tudor Jurgiu, produced by deFilm/ Ioana Lascar.
2016/ 2017 – Casting Director for the feature film Un om la locul lui written and directed by Hadrian Marcu, currently in postproduction stage, produced by 4Proof Film/ Anamaria Antoci and Adrian Silisteanu. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7437492/]
2016 - Talent Scouter and Casting Director for the feature film Otto The Barbarian written and directed by Ruxandra Ghitescu, in preproduction stage, producer Alien Film
- Casting Director (Romania) for the French feature film With Open Arms directed by Phillipe de Chauveron [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5804948/?ref_=nm_flmg_cldr_4]
2015
– Casting Director for the feature film Eastern Business written and directed by Igor Cobileanski
Romania/ Lithuania/ Moldova coproduction
With Constantin Puscasu, Ion Sapdaru, Daniel Busuioc
The film premiered in 2016 and won best actors (Ion Sapdaru and Constantin Puscasu) and best script (Igor Cobileanski) at Tallin Black Nights Film Festival in 2016
- Casting Director for the short Ana is coming back written and directed by Ruxandra Ghitescu
- Casting Director (Romania) for the Russian-American short Brutus, directed by Konstantin Fam
2014 / 2015 – Casting Director for the feature film Touch Me Not written and directed by Adina Pintilie
Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France coproduction
With Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein, Grit Uhlemann, Hanna Hofmann, Seani Love, Irmena Chichikova
World premiere in Competition Berlinale 2018
The casting process for Touch Me Not involved very much a large amount of research on performance art in Romania, contemporary dance, physicality, creating a character, but also consisted in video improvisations with Romanian actors.
2014 – Casting Director for Hedda's Sisters –national casting process for three female theatre directors: Carmen Lidia Vidu, Catinca Draganescu and Ioana Paun
Ibsen Awards has awarded the Romanian project “Hedda’s Sisters. Empowering Women Theatre Artists in Romania and Eastern Europe” an International Ibsen Scholarship 2014. The project initiated by theater critic and curator Cristina Modreanu focuses on Ibsen’s feminine characters, aiming to use them as a tool to showcase contemporary women’s perspective and empower Romanian women theater artists, extending the conversation to the Eastern Europe too. The project was produced by Romanian Association for Performing Arts.
2011 – 2013 Talent Scouter for Media Pro Pictures. The main project was the Scouting Caravan in 9 cultural centres/ cities in Romania.
2009 - 2011 – Artistic Consultant for Odeon Theatre in Bucharest
Since 2008 – cultural journalist for http://revistascena.ro/ – Romanian Performing Arts Magazine
THE SELF TAPE WORKSHOP
with Bettina Lohmeyer (DE) and Florentina Bratfanof (RO)
Self Tape Workshop is meant for professional actors who want to polish their craft and technique to create valuable self tapes. During this 3 days workshop the participants will be able to explore a hands-on approach into the truth of creating character, achieving not only the technical aspects of making a self tape, but opening up to the characters possibilities and life, with few important practical choices. The actors/actresses will achieve important steps into becoming autonomous in creating a character, even if they will have little context and a short monologue.
“I met Bettina several years ago in Berlin, during a masterclass Creating Characters lead by Susan Batson. In one of the night sessions Susan Batson invited Bettina to show her work for the character Bette Davis (after that turned out to be a one-woman-show). I remembered it was breathtaking everything that Bettina created on stage, as if Bette Davis suddenly appeared among us. We kept contact and during the lockdown Bettina invited me to be part of an informal group of actors that wished to continue working for their characters, even if they could not perform live in front of an audience. Our weekly meetings online soon became a ray of hope and professionalism during some uncertain times. We had this idea to start a workshop for Romanian actors – even though the working language is English – for that Bettina will have the chance to know their talent and potential and for the actors to receive specific and practical support in the work of creating their own characters.” - declared Florentina Bratfanof
The working language is only English, so all the participants must be fluent in English.
After confirming their participation (we have a limited number of participants: 10) all actors will receive 3 monologues from which they can choose one to make a self tape to be send in due time before the start of workshop. During the workshop they will work together with the workshop leaders on getting more and more specific and making best choices, also for framing, light, eyes line etc.
STW is created by Bettina Lohmeyer – worldwide experienced acting coach, based in Berlin and Florentina Bratfanof, Romanian casting director. They met during the master classes Creating Characters led by Susan Batson in Berlin and their partnership grew organically during COVID19 crisis.
The Self Tape Workshop is an independent education iniative intended for professional actors. It already had two editions, in hybrid mode, online and offline, being invited by two important theatre festivals in Romania - Bucharest International Theatre Festival (2020) and Iasi International Theatre Festival for Young Audience (2021).
If interested to invite this workshop during a festival or a cultural event, please drop a line at florentina.bratfanof@gmail.com.
Education
Informal Education and Workshops:
Since 2016, every year I observe the acting process in the Masterclass Creating Characters led by Susan Batson, organized by INTERKUST Berlin
2013
–participant at the National Forum for Creative and Cultural Industries,organized by ORICUM Association, Bucharest, Romania
–participant to the training course Finance your ideas!, Bucharest, Romania
- trainee at 10thCICAE training Art Cinema = Action + Management,Venice, Italy
- participant at UNPACK THE ARTS European residency for cultural journalist to be specialized in writing about contemporary circus, Rotterdam, Netherlands;
- participant at the workshop Filmmaker’s Development Toolkit led by Andy Glyne, Bucharest, Romania
- participant at Kino Kabaret and Film Criticism Workshop at GENERATOR 2013– Youth Audiovisual Forum, Strasbourg, France
2010
- participant at Performance Analysis Workshop led by Patrice Pavis, workshop organised by Interferences International Theatre Festival in Cluj
2009
- participant at the course Beyond the Rumor Mill: Cultural Affairs Journalism and Its Grasp of Cultural Policy as a Systemic Context, organized by CEU Summer University.
2008
- participant at the Summer University: "Global Economy and Creative Industries" organized by EuroBalkan and financed by Central European Initiative, Ohrid, Macedonia.
- participant at the Conference “Performance Art Training Today”, Bovec, Slovenia. The conference and the trainings included were organized and coordinated by Global Theatre Experience from UK.
2007
- internship period was held at DAH Theatre Research Center, Belgrade, on PR and marketing and programme development, cultural management analysis.
Formal Education:
2007 - 2008: MA in Cultural Management and Policy in the Balkans, University of Arts, Belgrade, Serbia; double diploma also certified by University Lumiere Lyon 2, France;
2005 - 2007: MA in Slavic Cultural Studies, University of Bucharest, final thesis about Today’s Serbian Dramaturgy;
2000 - 2004: University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Serbian – Romanian.
Letter to Artists
Dear Artists,
In 2011 I chose to follow this path of Talent Scouter and then Casting Director out from a great admiration of the creation process (in performing arts and films) and a personal belief that I am merely a point of access (sometimes a creative one) for you to create characters.
Since 2014, after working with Adina Pintilie, I became a great admirer of Susan Batson generosity, will and commitment towards the truth of acting process and I began to follow every year her workshop in Berlin, workshop organised by Interkunst Berlin. I didn't follow the workshop to become an actor, but just to be able to understand better the stakes of your work.
I also hope this platform will be an open door to get to know new talents and their artistic work, so you can send me your portofolio at florentina.bratfanof@gmail.com.
Portofolio check list:
- recent professional photos;
- professional CV
- showreel or an audition
I hope to meet you soon for a film or performing arts project!
Note: If you send me your portofolio, I understand the fact is intended only for the addressee named above. The contents will not be disclosed to any other persons excerpt directors and/or producers nor copies taken. Florentina Bratfanof Casting Director is GDPR compliant.
Articles in Romanian (about the castig process)
This category is underconstruction. In the following weeks it will appear several articles about the casting process since I begin my work as Talent Scouter and Casting Director in 2011.
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