This document is the introduction article for the pilot issue of the magazine All Hollow. It discusses how the creative industries have become cynical and boring, and that this magazine aims to fill the void by publishing interesting local content from Romania and the surrounding region. The article hopes to bring attention to the talented creatives in Bucharest and push the industry forward in a positive way through experimental works. It acknowledges the challenges but expresses optimism that the magazine can succeed by focusing on quality prose and content over empty words.

1. The Pilo t Issue

3. ALL HOLLOW
www.allhollow.com
All Hollow is published by

5. 5 /
ALL HOLLOW
www.allhollow.com
Editor in Chief
Barna Nemethi / barna@griffon.ro
´
Editors
Maria Desmirean / maria@griffon.ro
Vlad Fenesan / vlad@griffon.ro
‚
Andreea Ionita / andreea@griffon.ro
‚˘
Photography
Barna Nemethi
Vlad Fenesan
Contributing fashion editors
´
Oana Vasilache
‚
Bianca Naumovici
Printed at Everest
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please send us an email at office@griffon.ro.
To subscribe to the magazine, please visit allhollow.com
Contact
35B Aurel Vlaicu St. 2nd floor
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All Hollow is published by
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

6. 6 /
WE
COME
IN PEACE
BARNA NEMETHI
´
We come in peace. Which is surprising, given the fact
that we come into a strange strange world. As a whole and
as an industry; creatives and consumers; publishers and
buyers. Somehow, the stranger and odder the ground shifted
under our feet, the faster we adapted and regained balance.
We quickly came to terms with the weird and we got used to
it. So, in time, we left ourselves at the mercy of the cynical.
Today everywhere we look we see the cuts beneath the cover.
,
It’s all become a big flying rug —Aladdin would be jealous—
with issues cramped and hoarded under it. Miraculously it
,
still flies.All of us crowded on that small rug we call creative
industries, we move forward barely touching the ground. But
at what cost? Is it worth it? To be consumed by perversion
for fake rewards and strained relationships? For some time
now, our wits and minds have sharpened our tongue to call
out through the smallest of cracks and the biggest of gaps.
We criticize first, ask questions later. A nation of critics that
somehow passively accept the very precise things they dread
and continue to live with them side by side. Let’s face it: we
are all corrupted that way. I’m the first to admit that.
But above all, we are bored. So very bored. It almost makes
no sense to lift up our heads, raise our arms and actually
do something that matters, to make a contribution. Not
something exceptional, life-changing-never-done-before
fictionalised nostalgia, but something merely interesting.
Just wake up and create something interesting, something

7. 7 /
that puts you out there, puts your heart on the table, for the the veil lifted a lot of amazing things happened. We met
vultures and wolves to feed on. Bother us with something people, we learned things, we sweated, we hurt and we started
that will tickle our minds again. to see that all was not lost. We met with Cristi Lupsa and
‚
the wonderful team at DoR, who deliver, against all odds,
impeccable journalism in a country where media and news
are either ridiculous or malevolent. They write their hearts
out, issue after issue.This is also why they were the best host
for our pilot number and have our full support for anything
they ever want to try to achieve.We met stylists and designer
We willing to go out on a limb with us and try something new,
are experiment.We met musicians willing to risk not playing the
the same chords and we met people with the joy to dance on more
hollow than just one bitrate. We met writers and photographers
men. that are ready to use their tools honestly and fluently who
The are eager to create.
straw Because in the end, that’s what it’s all about: local content.
men. Our content. We want to build a playgound for all talented
The designers and stylists out there, publish their work and ideas
empty that are too experimental or unfitting for today’s print. We
men. want to work with the other magazines, trying to push the
industry forward together. We want to talk to the doers
and makers of our creative industries and make this a place
where they can say what they truly believe, without just
answering the same rotation of boring questions. We want
this magazine to be the aggregator of beauty fun, knowledge,
,
experimentation, entertainment, and above all, everything
But there’s always the satus quo. Why should anyone think that is interesting and relevant.
otherwise? Why try? It’s hard. It’s a waste of time. Where’s Once our eyes opened we also saw a city with so much to offer.
the return? Where’s the money? Why bother when no This city I live in, this country I live in, this region I live in,
one will appreciate or even acknowledge? But after all the and this time I live in have plenty to give if you are not so
whining unleashes, while browsing through all the excuses angry and bitter. We believe that Bucharest can be the new
that ring in our minds, over all this bickering, the impulse hotspot for what’s interesting, creative, cool, and innovative
of intrigue emerges.The need for fascination.The desire of a for the entire region.That’s why we write in English, because
slip. Revealed in new beautiful meanings —of the same old very soon we will bring you what’s relevant from our neighbor
stories— they will want it once it’s out there. creative communities and also we proudly want to share the
We are the hollow men. The straw men. The empty men. We local content generated here. In Bucharest. Romania.
want you to fill us, make us whole again. And we won’t stop So where is the rider? Because what we have here is his horse,
until we are overflowed. There have been enough excuses, with the stamina and the nerve for the long run.We are blowing
enough shout outs, enough demands for better.This magazine the horn here. Come and ride. Let’s join the best hearts and
is our leap of faith from the anguished neurotic bystanders minds of our creative industries and emerge together with
hoping for a quick fix of creative work to the trust that curated local content. Put Bucharest on the map.
you will fill us with meaning. As one little hobbit said to An elusive man once said you campaign in poetry but you
Mr. Gandalf:‘I wish the ring never came to me, I wish I had govern in prose. All Hollow contains a lot of promises, a lot
money and I worked for Interview and Dazed, I wish I were of poetry.And it is required that we prove ourselves through
surrounded by rich and talented people, I wish it were easy’. content and not through empty words. All that is hollow is
‘So do all who live to see such times, but it’s not meant for us meant to be filled, and things must fall into place. With no
to decide.All we can decide is what to do with the time that is pressure and no fear. Ignorance is not bliss. Innocence is bliss.
given to us’ said the wizard.And we have decided. We’ve gone It’s the prose that has to follow and we are well aware of that.
to print. And most importantly we’ve made a promise never
, Every time we’ve done something that didn’t feel right, it
to go back, back to the comfy shelter of good enough and ended up not being right. And this feels so right. We are the
that-works-why-try-harder. hollow men.The straw men.The empty men.And this is how
So things got well underway and we started to work. Once we unfold, not with a bang but with a whimper.

10. 1 0 /
LUST IN BLACK
The success of Veronica Pascu, one of the
‚
most in-demand models in Romania right
now, is not at all surprising. If you’ve seen
any of her work, we’re sure you were sold
and mesmerized by her beauty. If you’ve ever
seen her in real life,you can double the pain.
Like many models, Veronica started her
career as a teen and now,at 30, she continues
to commission advertising campaigns and
be featured on covers and in editorials
for fashion magazines, both Romanian and
international. She has been involved in
creating spectacular volumes of imagery;
she’s a risk taker, a thrill seeker, and an
haute vivante.
The first time we worked with Veronica was
on set for a music video we did; obviously,
she played the love interest. No need to
say that the whole crew and cast couldn’t
stop looking at her; every little move she
made was gazed at by more than 200 people. It
was jaw dropping to see her on camera so we
wanted the same rapture for the retinas in
print. Needles to say, she was game.
photography / BARNA NEMETHI
´
VLAD FENESAN
‚

35. make-up artist / Mirela Ecobici ˆ
hair / Adi HArlea
mirelaecobici.ro MANIFEST

38. 3 8 /
i pledge
allegiance
to the
Monica Birladeanu
ˆ ˘ left Romania back
when tabloids featured people whom you’d
actually heard of She moved to LA, took up
.
acting classes,and has since starred in both
big production movies and festival-worthy
indie films. This June, at TIFF she attended
,
the premiere for Tudor Giurgiu’s Of snails
and Men, where she plays Manuela, a single
and confused 30 year old secretary living in
Romania in 1992.We met Monica ona photoshoot
for the poster of that very same movie. She
came in with a fresh American vibe – skinny
jeans, denim shirt, biker boots, messy hair.
Hot as hell. Got us hooked right off the
bat. We started talking about photography
(she has the most amazing Leica camera),
Hipstamatic, her love for books and Leonard
Cohen, her fascination for Sundance and her
take on the emerging Chinese film market.
Monica DAZED us with her charmh and we
instantly knew we wanted to shoot her and
show her the way we saw her – laid back,
fresh and ridiculously beautiful. A week
later, she was pledging allegience to the
flag,we were pledging allegience to her.
photography / BARNA NEMETHI
´
styling / OANA VASILACHE
BIANCA NAUMOVICI

42. 4 2 /
Y
one who does the same, and you know he’s not going to take
advantage of that, because it’s all done within the frame of a
professional environment. It feels so good when you want to
hang on to it even after the shooting is finished.
The common ground of pain or problems is the most known
way of bonding between people. I still go to classes every
time I’m in Los Angeles and find new generations of actors
every time I go back, only because everybody is pretty much
like me: working all over the world, traveling... After a few
days of watching scenes I feel I might not know the names
of all my classmates, but I certainly know something that’s
essential about them after seeing them perform. And that’s
because it feels as if I’ve seen into their souls when on stage.
ou live everywhere - LA, Bucharest, NY, Iasi; you are
, Ivana Chubbuck, the coach, never lets you get away with su-
a citizen of the world. How do you cope with that? How do you perficial work on anything.You either give all you've got and
sleep? How do you eat? tear your chest open, or she’ll send you back and make you
It is true that I get to live everywhere; to such an extent that do it again in a couple of weeks.
I tend to call home any hotel room where I spend more than At the same time, there are many methods of acting. Some of
3 days, and that worries me a bit. I also tend to have my own them require an individual process, creating an imaginary
time zone that is never the same with the one of the country world similar to the character’s, in which you live for a while.
I’m currently in. And I eat room service food. Too much of That’s why some actors avoid any connection before shoot-
it... So it shouldn’t surprise you if I tell you that when I'm in ing. I’m cool with whatever method my partners work with.
Bucharest I often wake up at 4 AM and want to reach for the I have backup tricks to use in emergency cases anyway.
phone to order a chicken avocado sandwich on wheat bread,
no fries and no onions (I have my own perfected recipe). Tell us an actor you adored when you started acting. Feelings
When I'm on set I crave junk food a lot, especially chocolate, still there, or is he like a high school crush?
of any kind, if there’s no red velvet cupcake around (I have a I think I missed quite a few classes in high school to go and see
serious addiction to it).When I’m about to go on long travels the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair over and over again
I think I got to the point where I'm able to pack my life in because I truly thought Pierce Brosnan was pretty much the
two pieces of luggage. However, this made me seriously ask most seductive thing I’ve seen on screen up until that time.
myself lately what home truly is: a locked apartment under I loved his character too - the sleek bored businessman who
your name somewhere in the world? nameless hotel rooms? offers himself the experience of stealing a piece of art from
or actually something I have work on, in order to have it? the Met for his amusement and then falls in love with an ex-
quisite woman who happens to be the detective assigned to
Are you friends with actors? Or do you avoid the breed alto- his case. I dreamt for years of being the Catherine Banning
gether? How is it in classes, when you have to put your heart to his Thomas Crown. Then, about 5 years later, TV Mania
on the table and willingly or not, you become friends? magazine featured me on a calendar attached to their Christ-
Yes, of course I’m friends with actors. I guess once you’ve mas issue. I bought it, looked at my picture (my face slashed
worked with them, somehow you can’t avoid it. I personally by the words May-August, by the way), and when I looked
believe that actors make a special breed of people who walk on the other side, there he was: Mr. Brosnan himself sharing
around with a FireWire to their souls, and when they work the poster with me. I laughed until it hurt 'cause I guess my
they just plug into each other's hearts for a deep, direct con- dream had just come true: I was on top of Mr. Brosnan or he
nection.And they had to develop it only because sometimes was on top of me, depending on which side you’ hang the
d
you might get on set and be introduced to a gentleman who’s calendar. Regardless, I liked this very much and felt this was
going to play your husband starting the next day (and you’ll the climax to my personal affair with Mr. Crown. Since then
have to do a super emotional scene too, by the way). So what my cinematic education has improved and my taste in men
tends to take months, maybe years, for other human beings evolved in a different direction, far away from the sleek-suit
to work on (and I’m talking about friendship or intimacy wearing,perfectly shaven Mr.Thomas Crown,so he’s now a long
with another person), sometimes actors have to compen- forgotten crush.And I know that because I bumped into Mr.
sate and find solutions to create it in 24 hours. And when Brosnan while he was waiting for his luggage (like all mortals
the connection is created, it feels really good, mostly because do, shocker! [big laugh]) in LAX and watched him for about
it’s safe - you put your heart on the table in front of some- 5 seconds before looking away and getting on with my life.

48. 4 8 /
I won't be a hypocrite and say I only
enjoy the process of filmmaking
without the praise that comes with
being part of a good movie.
Quick. Last 3 movies you’ve seen. Sell us on one of them. movie will get very different reviews in different countries.
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Take Shelter, Looper. All three And the very thing you’ll be criticized for in a Sunday’s re-
of them are excellent films. Neither Beasts of the South- view in an Italian newspaper, might get you awarded in an-
ern Wild (the 2012 Sundance winner and Camera d’Or/ other country.
Un certain regard prize in Cannes), nor Looper are out yet. In the case of Francesca where, after the Venice Festival pre-
They’ll get released in September, if I’m not mistaken. But miere, we were reading quite frequently that people wanted
you can definitely look for Take Shelter to see it, an amaz- to see close-ups of my character, see closely how she registers
ing film about mental deterioration that’s borderline pro- all the things that happen to her.... and there I was, months
phetic. An excellent performance by Michael Shannon that later, getting an award for best actress at Bursa Film Festi-
gives you real shivers of fear in a very Hitchcockian way. It val in Turkey for transmitting emotions even when my char-
plays off the fear of losing your mind one day, or just being acter had her back to the camera. At least that’s what the
taken over by some mental disease. I won’t go any further jury said their motivation was.
so I won’t spoil the film for you, but I highly recommend it. Truth is, you can’t make movies for reviewers, bloggers or
compulsive Facebook followers. And trying in your movies
We know you read your reviews because you posted a few. to please the crowd who had negative things to say about
How’s that going for you, being exposed like that? How do you your last movie would be a big mistake.
take the hits? How do you take the 6 seconds of glory? I won’t be a hypocrite and say I only enjoy the process of
Honestly, I have yet to read a review where I’m personally filmmaking without the praise that comes with being part
slashed by a film critic. They might’ve slashed some of the of a good movie. But I have to say there’s a certain type of
movies I was in, but somehow, I got away untouched. The praise that makes me purr like a cat: when people come up
movies where I was under expectations (do you like my eu- to you to share something personal about the film, wheth-
phemism for bad acting?), or just new to this world and very er they’ve been touched by it, or made them think or feel
inexperienced, were insignificant enough to not be reviewed. anything in particular. I enjoyed it so much when a wom-
So that’s how I got away. an approached me at Transylvania Film Festival after the
But I don’t fear a film critic’s sharp tongue as much as I fear premiere Of Snails and Men and told me that she felt that
myself when watching a film I was in. If there were a chance in the movie I was somehow her sister, because she had a
that they would let me get away with doing half-ass things similar job as my character’s and saw in me some of the inse-
on screen, I wouldn’t allow it myself. I’m the most fierce curities she had at the time. She said if she hadn’t seen this
critic I’ll ever have. film, she would’ve never had the courage to come talk to me.
And when they shred to pieces a movie or just criticize a Because no matter how much you aspire to get the approval
few things, I think I have the necessary discernment to of your peers, it’s the people that pay for the ticket and let
understand if there’s anything to learn from that. It could you tell them your story that matter.
also be that the author of the article was really not in the Therefore, dear moviegoers out there, we’re no different
mood to see this type of movie and therefore it didn’t land than you are: we have bad hair days and tons of insecurities
well with him; or that he makes a good point and I agree too. We just put them to work instead of letting them work
with him, because often I know pretty much most of the against us!
movie’s weaknesses. So please come talk to us after seeing a film. We love to hear
But if I learned anything from past experiences is that a your thoughts.

54. 5 4 /
them who they are in the script.
Would you ever do a remake of a film? Tell us about it. I think there is an osmosis between my work and my per-
I won’t jump at the classics if that’s what’s expected, but I sonal little discoveries about myself. That’s because now I
would say that I’d love to be in a remake of Murmur of the can’t say if I’ve understood some things about who I am as
Heart by Louis Malle (I’m a good, solid Malle fan) or Investi- a person through some of my characters; or if I understood
gation of a Citizen Above All Suspicion by Elio Petri. I would some of those characters exactly because I found out some
be hugely tempted by Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate or Fear answers about myself. And this kind of work changes you
Eats the Soul (the Fassbinder one), but some of them would in silent ways because you wake up one day having much
lose their juice if transported to present, or would simply more understanding for people’s fears, aggressiveness, in-
not work at all, or I’m simply not old enough for them (like securities or simply loving humanity a lot more. I know
Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate or Emmi Kurowski in Fear for a fact that my transformation is quite palpable: from
Eats the Soul). I think one of the reasons why there aren't being attracted to sleek-perfectly dressed-swiftly moving-
too many remakes of the classics is the technologically ad- inscrutable-Thomas Crowns to rather introspective dam-
vanced world we live in.A cellphone in the pocket of the main aged-self aware-still looking-for-answers-kind of people.
character can absolutely ruin the plot of the original film. I’m the biggest fan of people: I love watching them think,
I’ve never been a fan of re-heated meals, so for the moment laugh or react to things; I love watching discrepancies be-
I’ll stick to contemporary material. tween body language and discourse; I love to speculate a
great deal about them and re-construct their biography by
Quick. Last 3 bands you listened to. their choice of words, clothes or the way they eat...and I
Band of Horses, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, steal shamelessly from them. I even turn paparazzi on peo-
Jack White ple in airports or supermarkets if they happen to wear or
do something that I could use as inspiration for a character
They say acting makes you know yourself better. How deep I’m currently working on. I’m a big time thief and when
does that go? working on something, I have a blast stealing people’s Face-
Pretty deep I’d say. In acting school, before teaching any book pictures. I download them, file them and use them as
technique, they start training you to be honest about your- reference when I talk to the director or costume designer
self and admit your own flaws.That’s where it all starts: un- for a specific project. Facebook is an absolutely endless re-
derstanding and accepting that we are imperfect human source for documentation.
beings and loving ourselves for it. Characters are most Oh and since we’re on the actor/thief topic, maybe it’s time
likely broken, chipped human beings like ourselves, but in to blow up a major cliché that I hear actors and interview-
different ways (‘cause that’s what creates drama, right?). ers use so often (I myself did it in the past as well). I don’t
Only by acknowledging that you can approach a character believe an actor ever enters the skin of a character and this
without judging it. phrasing is starting to scratch my ears whenever I hear it.
The moment you judge your character for being a prosti- Because yes, he may train himself to walk differently for
tute, a killer, an impostor, you create a rift between you and a character, twitch his face in a way he never did before or
the character and great performance can never be achieved; practice gestures he stole from an acquaintance, but the
you have to look at their pains and the damage that made emotions, the drive to act as his character does, are abso-
I’m the greatest fan of people: I love
watching them think, laugh or react
to things; I love watching
discrepancies between body
language and discourse.

55. 5 5 /
I like my directors to be great
manipulators. a director must
watch his actors closely and never
lose sight of what he needs them
to do in order to tell his story
lutely personal to the actor.Theft can only go so far. He has creating the character is, so they’ll know how to guide you
to pull all those emotions from inside his own soul: anger, before shooting a scene; or to know where to punch you in
hate, impulse to kill or lie. How could he borrow those from between takes so that you wake up in case you dropped. But
anybody? most importantly, a director must watch his actors closely
Therefore I think it’s more appropriate to say that an ac- and never lose sight of what he needs them to do in order to
tor rather exhibits different parts of himself when play- tell his story. I worked with directors who tend to be very
ing characters and in no way believes he’s somebody else delicate and subtle, or very caterpillar-like, smashing you
(cause that would be borderline schizophrenia, right?). But completely so they’ll break your defense mechanisms and
of course, this way of presenting things is more comfort- make you become so raw they can shape you in whatever
able; it’s less exposing to the actor who fears he would be form they need to. I’m game for whatever their method is
associated with his character’s behavior. as long as it’s efficient and it’s directed towards the same
Are you method? What makes you tick? goal: telling that story in the most compelling way.
I’m not method, no. Swimming for months on and off screen
in a fictional reality is absolutely draining to me. I tried it We can’t help but notice that you are a big indie movie ad-
in the beginning and I ended up exhausted and with my dict. You watch them, act in them, read them, and promote
gun unloaded in front of the camera. It’s certainly a great them. What is it that you like so much about them and hate
way of achieving compelling and authentic human behav- about big studio movies?
ior for some actors; it’s just not the thing that works for me. Ah, my love for indie movies was initially a form of snob-
I know what makes me tick, what makes me scream or cry, bery I suffered from: I was looking for meanings in my life
because I’ve watched myself closely over the past years. It’s and thought that I could find them only in niche form of
enough to think of specific situations that make me feel one art, like auteur cinema or folk/indie/rock music, or photog-
way or another and I can generate perfectly valid visceral raphy and visual arts. In the beginning, it was just a phase.
reactions for the scene I’m shooting. But then I found myself there out of pure love. I started to
act in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and that kind of movie
What does a director have to do to make you deliver the best shaped the opportunities I had for future gigs.
possible outcome you projected? You do one auteur movie after another and you tend to
Well, first of all he’d have to have immense passion for his stay in the festival movie area per forza. I like tremen-
own project. He’d have to love it immensely because that dously a movie that's stimulating or one that requires a lot
kind of love is contagious and it spreads beautifully around of patience, imagination and involvement, however, I also
the people he works with. And only constant obsession value greatly the entertainment provided by mainstream
about a story makes one come up with the best solutions cinema and studio movies. It’s hard to generalize and it
when necessary. I entrust myself to people like that. And would be plain stupid to do so, but let’s say that I love chal-
trusting my director is an absolute must for me in order to lenging projects.
be able to unveil myself and be the best I can be.And I like Ironically, budgets matter for me: the smaller the budget,
my directors to be great manipulators: to understand what the more comfortable I am. That’s when people don’t have
buttons they can push to get a reaction out of you; to un- trailers larger than an apartment in Bucharest and per-
derstand how you think and what your own mechanism of sonal assistants to communicate through and drivers that

65. 6 1 /
everybody is concealing too much
these days, and their secrets
feed my insatiable need for truth.
There’s a need for truth in all of us,
we are just scared to face it
because that means we’d have
to do something about it
won’t pick up anybody else except for the king-actor he’s about it (especially the inconvenient truths).
assigned to.There’s distance between people on projects of Somehow I feel that when a friend or a stranger entrusts me
this size and I hate that kind of distance when I work. I also with a secret that paints them in unflattering colors,it strangely
hate too much comfort and feel much more creative when makes me more comfortable around that person and ignites
I'm in a restrictive environment.And this has nothing to do in me a huge stream of love and admiration for such courage.
with snobbery, but rather with a need of humbleness and a
need to connect with the others. And how can a connec- What are you working on right now? Anything juicy?
tion happen when we have limousines between us? [smiles] Yup. Something dry and something juicy, actually. I’m get-
That being said, I have to state that outside my job I like a ting ready to shoot a feature film with Ioana Uricaru called
comfortable life more than anything else. After the Wedding in September and then in November a film
called Panarea by Adam Lough.
You seem quite confident and driven, but you must have I just went through the Director’s lab at Sundance Film In-
some weak spots. What frightens the shit out of you today? stitute in Utah with Ioana where we had the chance to be
Oh, I think I stated quite a few in the previous answers. But supported by them financially and logistically to shoot five
mostly facing great opportunities and not being ready to of the most challenging scenes for her (and implicitly me),
seize them. Fear of disappointing myself. Fear of mediocrity. and then got advised on how to solve various dilemmas we
had about the scenes.
I’m sure you’re bored of yourself answering over and over It’s a true blessing to have a chance to experiment on a film
again the same questions, tell us something you would want a priori to the actual shooting without having a producer
someone close to ask you? throwing a tantrum about how you should stick to conven-
What makes me shut up? [laughs] tional filmmaking so he can make money off the film, or the
What’s your biggest drive? film crew of 50 people checking their watches once you’ve
The need to become a person my children would be in- gone 5 minutes into overtime. We had a really supportive
spired by... If I’m lucky. Sundance crew made out of people who were there out of
passion alone and that’s the essential premise to making
Do you like secrets? To hold, to find out about? How does that great films.
affect your research?
I looove secrets, mostly other people’s. I tend to believe Quick. Something to live for.
everybody is concealing too much these days, about who Art. Love. Children.
they really are, and their secrets feed my insatiable need for
truth. There’s a need for truth in all of us, we are just scared Quick. Something to die for.
to face it because that means we’d have to do something Children. Love.Art.
make-up artist / Doinel Ungureanu ˆ
hair / Adi HArlea assistent photographer / IOANA ENESCU
Beauty-Make up academy MANIFEST GRIFFON CREW

68. 6 8 /
RADIO
LIVE
TRANSMISSION
Behind a deep warm and very serious sound-
,
ing voice stands a tall, slender man, with
sharp features and quick eyes. He says
'Hello', but you quickly realize that he's
already scanning, analyzing and crafting
his next move. So before you even think of
what to say, Bogdan serban takes lead with
,
his first question. Usually, being around him,
you become a subject of interest, you will
be questioned,you will be cornered,you will
laugh and you will never walk away with-
out paying his tribute: information. Because
Bogdan serban is a curious man; he was just
,
born that way as he puts it. He will ask you
anything any time; he will dig deeper and
deeper in every direction trying to find
something to hang on to, something worth
sharing later. Seventeen years into radio
broadcasting, he’s one of the top voices of
the industry, a fierce endorser and promot-
er of local culture and a very important
figure in the uprising of the Romanian indie
music scene. A strong believer in the power
and persistence of HIS MEDIUM, we found
him on the front lines, fighting the system,
proving that quality radio can still sell.

70. 7 0 /
B
coming.This is an electronic duo with seven people in the live
version. I really wanted to show them to my musical director,
but there's a tension now, because we support a lot of Roma-
nian music and people have started whining: 'Whoa! Come on,
too much Romanian music'. So what I did was stop telling
people where the bands are from and just play the tracks, and
of course everybody liked it, yeah! [laughs]
Everybody went 'wow! yeah, it really sounds good'. Not
many bands can pull that off, but mostly in the electro area,
a lot of them sound like any other foreign band. You can’t
tell a difference, they have very good production value. But I
found out one of their secrets: they are mostly family bands,
so they stay together; they’ve got time. There’s no pressure
ogdan serban is a true radioman; he has flow. We
, between them like 'dude, can’t rehearse now, I’ve got another
just had to unleash him in a discussion about music and step gig'.They don’t drag mercenaries, I mean players, after them.
aside. We talked with him in two very nice and special ven- No, they take their time.They afford to take as many weeks,
ues to us —Energia & Papiota— over a couple of beers. First even years as they feel they need to come up with something.
round was on us, he took the second one.The text below is a See, that was obvious with Robin and the Backstabbers.
rendering without cuts of all the topics we went through.We The drummer… Robin's brother… the hardest to replace in
had a fun time living in the night. their case.
[Talking about getting people interviewed and such] For ex- [Tell us how you started working for the radio] Wow! [You're
ample last year, when Ian Brown was here I asked the organ- still doing it after so many years] It’s been seventeen years.
izers to do an interview. Since we were partners at the event, [How come you didn't get tired, bored, fed up?] Hold on, hold
I told him: 'hey come on, let’s take him to the studio', and you
, on, there’re too many questions now. [They’re supposed to be,
know what he said? He said 'dude, I'm an old dog, it's been haha] So, I’ve been doing this for seventeen years. I was at the
done man, you know'. 'Come to the radio, give us an interview!' age when everyone tries everything; basically everyone was
'Let's just drop it... I'd rather get drunk with you'. And I got trying, period. I knew what I wanted, I had a plan, like any
that.This year, he’s coming back and I’m kinda curious if he'll other teenager, and it was acting, I wanted to do theatre. But,
give any interviews, since he's coming with The Stone Roses. you see, at the same time, the rumour spread around in my
Well, probably the rest of the band's gonna give them, not native town, Targoviste, that the first private-owned radio
ˆ ,
him. Compared to him, those guys haven't been interviewed station was going to pop up after the Revolution. It was 1995
as much. and I gave an audition and that was it.Although I didn’t get
a chance to talk to my old mates, I think that everyone in
//// my generation did the same thing. We all auditioned, we were
all trying to mimic the way they speak on the radio, we were
[Moving on, talking trivia about the local bands] When they all doing it at home and then we realized we would actually
[The MOOoD] came to GuerriLive, I asked [the lead singer] to like to do this. I really started to want to do radio.The great
sing normally. He’s got such a head voice, and I was on to him. advantage was that the guy who founded the radio station
He just can’t do it. He played along, he wanted to and I told was a true visionary and also very well advised, so he took
,
him 'listen, it’s OK, just choose any track you want, and then people from Radio Romania Actualitati, which was the best
˘ ,
sing it in a normal voice'.And he kept trying… I was playing state radio station before 1989.These guys were the only pros,
him song after song, but he kept going for the pitch. He can’t, you know, even if they were old school, they were the only real
he just can’t do it any other way now. I was like: Look, don’t radio pros.They knew what they were doing. So we set up, we
go up theeeeerreee [imitates the pitch, everyone laughs] Never went to Bucharest to see a couple of shows, to see how they
the less, the pitch part, he fucking masters it. He masters the did Romania Actualitati, the shows with Megan, Ghitulescu
˘ ,
technique very well. [we all agreed] and Paul Grigoriu. Those were the guys that did the morn-
Romanian bands? They’re all in one big pile. Couldn't tell you ing show, and we saw what it meant to get a show ready all
a favorite. I have periods, I have phases. I can’t allow myself night long. They came in at ten in the evening, that’s when
to stay with one single band. I cannot afford to be a one band the job started, had their own offices, bed included, and on
fan. [The music zone he's in right now] There’s a very good top of that, the most notable detail, [leans right into the re-
vibe now, the electro zone moves incredibly well. The guys corder and whispers] a case of vodka. They started working
from Yoon. Last week we had Yellow, and now we have Yoon and spent two or three hours doing it.A huge team worked for

71. shirt / Dior

73. shirt / Bogdan’s own

74. 7 4 /
that morning show. It was extremly elaborate, or so it seemed
to all of us then, but the truth is, it seems even more so today.
It somehow resembled a bureaucratic entanglement, the way
they did things, because the editing was done on an assembly
line.There were people who worked in shifts all night long. In in Romania, in
different offices, on desks, material was collected from all over these times,
the country from correspondents everywhere, and they were
, you are what
editing piece by piece, even word for word, from magnetic you speak.And
tapes. Then they called the guy who was running the show if we would
in that particular morning, who could have been any of the follow in
three, and they told him 'This is it', while other editors pre- this line of
pared the headlines and made up the text that either Grigo- thought,all
riu, or Megan, or Ghitulescu would read in that morning. Fi-
, radio stations
nally they got some sleep and woke up at four in the morning,
, in Romania
so they could start the morning show at five. have come to
They had this cool thing too, I don’t know whether they still provide some-
have it at Romania Actualitati now, but the studios were
˘ , thing that has
equipped with pipes and tubes to ventilate the air within, alienated this
because studios usually have no windows. So they had these whole nation.
venting pipes installed, and they could smoke inside the stu-
dios. People smoked inside a radio station, and that was truly
something.When they did the first private radios, in my time,
smoking was not allowed, we didn’t have the venting installa-
tion. But those guys smoked.
[About not leaving radio, and radio today] Well, not yet. I still
see it as the only area left, I mean the only one that offers and people listen to it because they want to relate] I’m sure
me real freedom, not just a feeling of it. It’s the only medium, you’re only referring to us [Radio Guerrilla], because other-
except maybe writing online that gives you this kind of free- wise, it's not the case. In these times, you are what you speak.
dom. But the thing is that everyone else working in radio If we would follow this line of thought, all radio stations in
here has unfortunately ruined it.They no longer know how to Romania have come to provide something that has helped
value that freedom. [Radios in general or do you have certain in alienating this whole nation. They feed their audience
stations in mind?] Both.You asked me why I’m still doing ra- through a funnel, underestimating them, ignoring them.
dio today.This is why because there’s still a place for Guerrilla
, And they do this every day over and over again.
on the market. Worldwide too. Look at the States, where you [So you manage to listen to other radios as well] Well, yes, I’m
have satellite radios in your car, already a standard feature in also being exposed to them in taxis, in shops, and I realize
the American car-building industry. Cars come out of the as- nothing has changed. Everything is frozen. Not only that, I
sembly line with satellite radio; you have 5,000 radio stations mean not only the language they use, but the music as well.
already set up.You couldn’t listen to all of them until you’re Discourse and music are one and the same. It’s the same
done with the car, [laughs] you couldn't listen to all of them bitrate with the same scarce words. A fast bitrate with few
until you died.And the way I see it, even though people have words, that’s the way it is.That’s the recipe.
been sobbing for the inevitable demise of radio for years now, [About whether he agrees with us that Bucharest could even-
it will outlive television. tually become the cultural and artistic hotspot of Eastern
It is an evolution no one anticipated, but it turns out replac- Europe] That's a high goal, you're brave. Yes, why not? Bu-
ing that voice in your car has proven to be a quite a chal- charest seems to be culturally active, but I can't possible
lenging task. Also, it’s extremely hard to replace its ability follow in this idea empty handed. I will have to wait. It’s
to surprise you.This is what radio does best. No matter how obvious that things start happening. I got an email these
many CDs you have, how many megabytes in MP3 is, there’s days from Andrei Jecza, the one who has the Jecza Gallery
no way it can still surprise you, because in the end, you al- in Timisoara. His father was an outstanding sculptor, and
ready know what’s in there and radio will always find a way he keeps suggesting to me, for quite some time now, that we
to surprise you. do a mix between Romanian music and contemporary art.
[We argue that it also brings an opinion to the table. Most of He has managed to put his thoughts on paper and he found
the times, the voice gets to share opinions, thoughts, feelings, some mone. He’s going to do something like Affordable Art.

75. shirt / Bogdan’s own
jacket / D&G

76. 7 6 /
Limited, numbered series of contemporary art, joined with
music from bands, sold at affordable prices and expected to
increase their value in time.The idea is to attract the music
consumer and encourage him to look at art, as well.
there’s
//// so much pride
in this area
[About the new producer of the show] Let me tell you another that no one
story. Listen to this, our current producer Irina Petrovici does covers
was a huge fan of the show. She's the one that created and of another
managed the Facebook page ˆ
'Imi place ˘ logout' ('I like to
sa Romanian band
logout'), which soon became the show’s official fan page. We
had a producer at the show for five years and when he left, I
really didn’t know who to turn to, and Guerrilla Logout is a
show that really needs a producer. Delia, my girlfriend, rec-
ommended her, she said 'take Irina!', and all I had to do was
call her up.Think about it, she didn't do any radio before, no
radio production, but she came in, learned everything really before at RFI. So he backed up the idea. Everything moved
fast and was right on track in no time. She came up with a very fast. We did a demo with Les Elephants Bizzares. Peo-
bunch of stuff, things that the show needed and were pretty ple immediately went 'wow!'. But now, after two years, if you
obvious to an outsider, who had nothing to do with the in- make me listen to the demo, well, we might as well just shoot
dustry. ourselves, the quality was…
[What did Irina do before?] She worked in an advertising [We gave Radio Guerrilla credit; we said people do go out
agency, in more than one, actually. She managed several more now, people want to hear the live bands promoted by
bands, including the The Mono Jacks, I think one of her Guerrilla] We have indeed become a benchmark now. If any-
last jobs was with the The Romanian Cultural Institute. one is looking for new bands they come to us. Well, this is
She came in with a great deal of ideas I would have never what I tried to do from the very beginning, but I didn’t wrap
thought of.This also boosted the online version of the show. it like that. I said 'let’s experiment, let's ask every band to
There’s no way this kind of radio show can work out with play something else other than their own stuff'. They all do
only one brain, there are a few brains working with all that’s covers anyway. But there’s so much pride in this area and no
going on there: the producer; the lead-editor, who comes up one does covers of another Romanian bands. Lucia came up
with the special segment called 'The Daily Synthesis' on pol- with a cover on The MOOoD. An incredible one, better than
itics and stuff like that; now, this last half-year, we’ve also had the original. She’ll be big, but maybe for the outside market,
a project manager, who’s very much connected to music, and not here, in Romania. Here she will be assimilated with the
has his own band.Actually he rolls with something like four author of the song. Let the God of Good Music help her not
different bands. I hadn’t thought about that either- to have stray towards Inna and such, musically speaking; otherwise
someone from the other side [a musician] working for the I wish her all the notoriety in the world.
show. Each one of us radio people look at [bands] like they [Speaking of Inna and her notoriety, tell us about this import-
were some kind of product, and when you bring them in, export music] There was a reporter who asked my opinion on
look, here’s the product himself telling us where things stand. this for a UK magazine. She was doing an article on our mu-
[Speaking of bands and GuerriLive, how did the whole Guer- sical exports and after she interviewed a lot of people from
riLive business start] There was this Mono Jacks concert the industry, people from well-known music labels who were
in Underworld, in September, almost two years ago. I went interested in selling this kind of euro-trash, euro-dance, she
there with one of my colleagues from the news, George Mi- came to me for a different opinion. I told her the same thing
halcea. Our current producer, Irina Petrovici was managing I’m telling you. My opinion hasn’t changed, even though
the band and she called me up: 'Come see them live!'. So I this was about a year ago.As long as you meet your audience
went. When I realized we were fifteen, maybe sixteen people with the same kind of music, filtered through the funnel I
in that small club room, I told her 'hey, wait a minute, we can was talking about earlier, this is the kind of music you get.
do this in our studio. Same thing. Why shouldn’t this band If you’d use a sieve, you’d have several genres pass through
play in our studio?!' The following day I came up with the it; but with a funnel, only one genre will be allowed to pass
concept and wrote it down. Mihai Dinu, the musical direc- - it quickly becomes the only available genre and everyone
tor of Radio Guerrilla got hooked right away. He had done it thinks it’s the standard and the only one that is of value.This

77. 7 7 /
is what we’ve exported until now.That's why this country be- big. Wether you have a show or a concert, I guess it’s about
came a landmark on the musical map as the best producer of the number of people who can attend, about the club’s capac-
this kind of music: euro-dance, euro-beats, euro-trash. ity, I think that’s the way things go. I know that on Broad-
[Luckily, other genres have started to scratch the surface, like way, where theaters are concerned, it’s about the number of
electro] Yes, electro.[pauses] I think there are several levels seats. Budgets depend on the number of people that attend.
to this discussion. Inna is one level. Other Romanian artists Clubs, I'm sure, are also divided according to their capacity.
that proved successful on the underground European al- And before you flood the market with a lot of small concerts,
ternative scene like The Amsterdams are at a very different full of visuals and stuff, before you saturate, before you in-
level.They had several European tours and that, in my book, vade all these small places, you cannot go to the next level,
is also a success. Unfortunately in the underground, we to ask for a bigger space, to ask for a show. Clubs will auto-
can’t talk about sales. Alternative bands will never keep up matically have to make sure they fulfill this demand; they
with Inna when it comes to international sales, but they are will supply screens, lights, the whole setup.They will have to
slowly trying to catch up. For example, Emagic has created meet the demand. Don't forget that in this trophic chain the
two event companies with a well defined intention in this only thing that matters is the guy paying for the ticket.And
sense: they realized that most festivals impose their lineups. he measures his 'ticket' in the number of beers they cost —
That's why we go to B’estfest and listen to some Yugoslavian I’ve seen this. In Romania, concerts are being measured by
bands, or Bulgarians that not a living soul has ever heard the number of beers. We should establish a top of how many
of. They came with the idea of making exchanges between hectoliters of beer are being sold at concerts.
festival lineups.They want to sell bands like Robin and the [About film scores and end credits soundtracks] The film in-
Backstabbers, like Grimus to other major festivals, to help dustry in this country, for instance, although it’s very hot, it
increase their notoriety. fails to come meet and collaborate with the music industry.
[Maybe the public will force the industry to change] I met this I haven’t heard about any filmmaker approaching a band to
kid and she showed me the music on her phone. She had Flor- ask for the rights for using their music on a film soundtrack.
ence and the Machine and Foster the People in there and I And I don’t think the bands are the problem here. I think
asked her where she got her music from. Instead of answering that directors don’t even consider the possibility. It may
me straight away, she paused for a second, because she didn’t seem funny to you, but in Mungiu’s latest one he could have
remember. She wasn’t listening to radio, she wasn’t watch- easily done it... Let me think, it should be something disso-
ing TV she was a very atypic teenager.Then she remembered
, nant, there are absolutely bucolic images in the film. Maybe
that her friends gave her the music.Their parents heard it on Niste baieti, E.M.I.L.? No, no… Luna Amara, there you go.
, , ˘ ˘
the radio, looked it up and shared it with their children and That’s it. That's right. I’ll ask him at the premiere, I’ll call
their children share it among themselves.These kids’ parents Mungiu and ask him: What do you think of Luna Amara?
˘ ˘
listen to Guerrilla and they are directly exposed to other Could you have used them in the film? For the end credits
kinds of music. This may very well mean that our salvation at least.
might come from their kids. It’s the generation that will put [About being a good listener] I’m not just listening to music,
pressure and will eventually change the standards of what I listen to everything that’s going on around me. There are
something becomes mainstream. [we all agree, but believe it’s some rules I instinctively follow. They taught me in college
a matter of time] It will also be a matter of money. I think that to be a good actor you have to be a constant consumer
that with all the piracy that’s going on now, it will eventually of theatre, to go to as many performances as you can. To be
bring some change in how the money is made.When it comes a good radio person, you have to be a very good listener. So
down to buying a ticket for a concert you won’t pay for any I listen to radios abroad, as many as I can, and I listen to
kind of show any more. They will have to deliver more then what's going on around me. Maybe you haven’t noticed but I
just show up and sing. have been asking you a lot of questions too.There were a lot
of times when you were answering to me. [Yes, we’ve noticed]
//// [About piracy] As far as music is concerned, I think this is the
only possibility for Romanian music to become attractive:
[We have plenty of concerts, but not enough shows] You should to be bought. Because at this time, we are swimming in fake
make the necessary distinctions between them. When you top charts. Even our top, the one we [Radio Guerrilla] do, is
say concert, you mean club concerts, you cannot deliver any- a top of preferences. The best top, the relevant one for any
thing else there, there’s no way, no room, you just can’t. All future industry, the one we don’t have now, is the sales top. If
you can do there is play your music. This is the way things someone doesn’t come up with a psychological price for the
happen abroad, too. Bands are being chosen from the clubs, Romanian track, downloaded from the internet, for instance
and then the production companies come in and make them 1 RON per track, we won’t have anything close to this. The

79. shirt / Dior
jacket / D&G

80. shirt / Dior
pants / BoGDAN’S OWN

81. 8 1 /
way iTunes met the industry, when Steve Jobs came and said
99 cents is what you should pay for a track. It all turned into
a phenomenon. Romania has the premise for something like
that and it can be the next major thing in music. But, again,
there should be a psychological price. Bands should be the my parents
first to say 'yes, we agree', then the other companies that col- always let me
lectively manage the copyrights, and so on. Everybody un- do things my
der the same law. way. they'd
That's for music. When it comes to film, I'm all for going call the police
to the cinema, it’s another thing altogether. It’s a shame to only If I didn’t
pirate it, you're missing out actually. We even have niche come home for
cinemas, like Europa on Calea Mosilor, where all you get is
, three whole
European cinema. It’s a shame, really, not to pay that shitty days
price for a ticket.
[And finally about the young generation and his childhood] I
think it’s a generation that has grown old prematurely.They
live in a made up reality. They no longer enjoy the pleasure
of touching something, of feeling with their own hands, 'here,
touch it, that’s how it feels'. I think that’s harmful. I was look-
ing at young kids, I’ve got a lot of friends, of colleagues, who would all come wearing the uniforms we still had from the
have kids, even grown-up kids, and I was looking at them: the previous years, even if they were a little small and all. It was
pleasure of playing or messing around in the streets is gone. February and we covered the trees in those torn uniforms.
Those kids don’t even have a clue what it means. It’s a little It was my period of discoveries, and a lethal combination
bit sad. I know the mobile phone was a great achievement of rock music and a lot of philosophy I obviously didn’t un-
after all, a great technological discovery, and a very useful derstand. I started with Cioran and, yes, with vodka, a lot
one, but on the other hand, it has shaven quite a few years off of vodka. I was getting home in the mornings and my par-
the kids’ lives. When I was a kid, during the summer breaks, ents kept trying to understand: 'We are not giving you any
I was leaving the house at 10 o’clock, and coming back late money, how can you come home every morning shit drunk?!'.
in the evening. Nobody knew where I was, they could only It was fine, because I didn’t ask them for anything, and that
guess where to find me and if anyone needed me, they went in itself was quite something: I returned home every morn-
and searched in the neighborhood, near the lake, in the park. ing absolutely sizzled. I had no dime in my pocket and still
My acting up reached its highest quota when I was a teen- came back drunk. My mom took my key away, so she could at
ager.That was immediately after the Revolution, we were the least know when and in what state I was arriving home.Then
generation that had its first two years of high school before we would spend another hour or two talking in the kitchen.
the fall of the regime and the last two years after it. One That’s roughly said, because in fact I was the only one talk-
thing I remember about the early 90’s is something that I'm ing. And my mother kept telling me: 'You know, if I'd write
sure had never occurred anywhere else, and that we were the down everything you say, I might just get it published and
only ones who experienced it: we smoked right in front of it would be spectacular'. I can’t remember what I told her,
the classroom. When we saw the teacher come along the cor- it was probably delirious stuff about what I had been read-
ridor, we put out our cigarettes right in front of him, while ing during the day, before drinking, and from the conversa-
looking him in the eye.That was during the first term, in the tions I was having at night, while drinking. What I mean to
first days after the Revolution. If we didn’t like a teacher, we say is that my parents always let me do things my way. My
went out into the schoolyard, put up a strike and had him folks would call the police only if I didn’t come home for
changed.We were in the tenth grade and we knew that in the three whole days.That was our agreement: three days. After
twelfth grade the main way of rebelling and of marking one’s that they could call the police and, implicitly, the morgue.
passage from school to adulthood was to tear one’s uniform. I knew this and always called them, no matter what, after
We realized we wouldn’t have any uniforms to tear by the three days, from wherever I might have been. [like from the
end of high school, they weren't mandatory anymore, so in morgue] Mom, I’m in the morgue, don’t worry, it's all good.
the eleventh grade I suggested we pick up a day in which we [Laughs.]
The clothes were provided by Victoria Men (83-85 Calea Victoriei).
For more informations, you can also visit: victoriaonline.ro

84. ALL
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