Another Great One Has Passed Away

Moldavian film director Emil Loteanu has died. He is best known for his 1975 musical drama Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven. This loose adaptation of Maxim Gorky's fiction, was immensely popular in Eastern Europe, partly because it defied Brezhnev-era codes of Soviet cinema with its graphic depiction of violence and nudity. The movie left a long impression on me and I still remember some of the songs, although I had heard them decades ago.