Hot Docs

Ion Bârl?deanu is a homeless man living in a garbage-strewn alleyway in Bucharest when he is discovered by a gallerist and lands his first art show at the age of sixty-two. After decades of toiling in obscurity, amassing thousands of image clippings, Ion’s collages are now being curated and collected. An outsider turned ingénue, he goes from being a “useless piece of junk” under communism to a big success—with his own home and bicycle—within capitalism. Living under Ceausescu’s regime forced Ion to create art in the truest sense—for himself, as a means of self-expression. His scathing and provocative political collages make statements that could never have been made in Romanian society until now. Proving Hippocrates’ adage that “art is long, life is short,” filmmaker Alexander Nanau chronicles one man’s complete transformation at the end of his life, and shows how his art will outlive us all. - Angie Driscoll

Co-presented with ToRo Arts Group.

Media Coverage

Toronto Star (Arts Story)