Bucharest, April 7 /Agerpres/ – Painter Gheorghe Stanciu, a member of teams that created film sets for famous movies such as ‘Cold Mountain,’ ‘Modigliani,’ ‘Mirrors,’ ‘Closer to the Moon’ and ‘Wednesday,’ has created reproductions, posters and portraits for director Francis Ford Coppola, who will be honoured in April with the AFI Life Achievement Award.

Although he did not work on any film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Gheorghe Stanciu was commissioned by Coppola to create several reproductions, movie posters and portraits.

‘In the first phase, I made reproductions after Paul Gauguin, then I continued collaborating with Francis Ford Coppola over the years. Later on, he commissioned various paintings. He directed a film in Romania over 16 years ago, and we met during that time through a recommendation from another film director I had worked with. I didn’t work on his film, but he was looking for someone to create some works for him, and that was the beginning,’ artist Gheorghe Stanciu told AGERPRES.

Stanciu attended the National University of Arts in Bucharest and currently has an artistic studio in the capital. Over the years, he has worked extensively as a film set painter, with at least 25 years of experience. Among the latest projects he worked on, as head-painter, is Tim Burton’s series ‘Wednesday.’

The Board of Directors of the American Film Institute (AFI) announced that Francis Ford Coppola will be the 50th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his outstanding career in film. The award will be presented to Coppola during a gala at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26, 2025.

The American director made the film Youth Without Youth (2007) in Romania, a drama starring Tim Roth, Marcel Iures, Mircea Albulescu, Florin Piersic Jr. and Adrian Pintea, based on Mircea Eliade’s novella.

‘Coppola made a film about Dracula, but he also filmed Youth Without Youth in Romania, based on Mircea Eliade’s work. He won an Oscar for The Godfather, Apocalypse Now won the César Award, and he received an honorary Palme d’Or. Cotton Club is perhaps the most visually spectacular film, and politically, I would mention The Conversation, with the late Gene Hackman. Francis Ford Coppola is very detail-oriented with his sets and also with the music he sometimes composes, a talent inherited from his father,’ Romanian film critic Irina Margreta Nistor told AGERPRES.