Vlad Ionuț Popescu

I embarked on this journey when I was 15 years old. Back then, in my hometown, a small city in Romania, I didn't have any opportunity to work in this field so I started my own amateur theatre company alongside my history teacher and a few colleagues, that still exists and provides workshops for aspiring artistic youth. After I finished high school, I got accepted at The National University of Theatre and Film. My first feature experience happened while I was still a student. The American blockbuster called "Voyagers" – an adaptation of the above-mentioned William Golding novel – included impressive cast, like Colin Farrell. After the pandemic, I started to do theatre again whilst pursuing my Master Degree in Acting. As I was finishing my dissertation, I did my first short film abroad, "Dincolo", shot in Belgium, as well as played my first significant role in a Romanian feature film for "Taxi Drivers". Moreover, I was cast in the Rotterdam-set documentary-drama "The Art of Stealing" which recently premiered at Thessaloniki Film Festival. As my network increased, I started getting noticed in both cinema and theatre and therefore started acting in numerous roles on stage, but also on screen. I starred in two locally acclaimed TV shows, "Atletico Textila" and "Las Fierbinți". Most significantly, I recently worked on two internationally acclaimed Romanian productions. First, the movie "Three Kilometres To The End Of The World", which won Heart of Sarajevo last year and was also nominated for the Palm d'Or at Cannes. Second, "The New Year That Never Came" won the Horizons and the FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival 2024. Furthermore, I have just finished shooting a feature film - "We Won't Get Old Together", directed by Marius Olteanu.