Chronicle in the van: The team of the film “Yellow Tie”, with John Malkovich in the role of Sergiu Celibidache, requested the modification of a chronicle written by some students

The Alecart editorial team, formed by the students of the National College in Iasi, received, through the teachers and directly, the request from the PR and the film producer to delete the end of the chronicle, on the grounds that it contains “a spoiler” and “does a lot of harm”.

• After several interventions, the author did not delete, but modified the end of the chronicle.
• Several cultural figures reacted in support of the magazine.
• HotNews spoke with the teacher coordinator of the student magazine and the producer of the film, one of the people who intervened.

Maria Oglinzanu is a student in the 11th grade and a journalist at Alecart, the student publication at the National College in Iasi.

The reputation of student and student magazines

The tradition of school publications is not only Romanian, but also international. Regarding Iași, the city has the reputation of magazines published by pupils and students.

For example, “Student Opinion” is one of the first and most important Romanian publications after the fall of communism. Many important names in our press have written, over time, for such magazines.

Professor Emil Munteanu: “I did not expect a teacher to ask for the removal of an article”

Alecart, the student editorial office at the National College in Iași, published a chronicle of the film “Yellow Tie”. After its publication, Professor Emil Munteanu, from the National College in Iași, who is also the coordinator of Alecart magazine, tells HotNews that “he received a call from a fellow teacher who imperiously asked us to take down the article, because it contains spoilers, and that he received a message from director Serge Celibidache, who told him: “it must be removed. The article must be removed, it's a disaster”.

“I didn't expect a teacher to ask for the removal of a student's article even if it was a message he had to convey from the director Celibidache. When I asked her why, she told me that “that's how artists are and they need to be understood”.

What was considered to be a spoiler was the fact that “the student said about that yellow tie that will be discovered by the main son character in the book, the tie that he had sent and that he had to give back to his father in his youth, that was it. And that this would have bothered the producers and the director of the film”, continues Emil Munteanu for HotNews.

Interventions of the producers on the end of the chronicle

More texts and calls followed. They were sent to the student by Adela Vrînceanu, producer and the director's wife, and Cristina Dobrițoiu, producer, on Instagram and Facebook. The author of the chronicle was asked, in polite but firm terms, to “delete the denouement” of the text.

The text was not completely deleted, but, following the pressure of the producers, the student decided to change the end of the text.

“In the evening I spoke with her and asked her if she wanted to change. It was her right to do what she wanted and she said she didn't want to be any kind of scandal. She said she was changing without affecting the content of this article,” explained Professor Munteanu.

“Part of the editorial board disagreed“

“I'll even tell you my point of view, that there's no spoiler, because that sequence with the tie didn't even seem like a spoiler to me, because it was predictable. Once the tie appears at the beginning, it had to appear once more. But the student said that if I was requested by email and on Facebook and they also found out my phone number, that is, I was called by the lady in question, she decided to change. The next day we had an editorial meeting and part of the editorial did not agree with this and said that they want a position from the teacher and then it is natural that students appear to me”, the teacher continues.

They threatened lawyers

Emil Munteanu says that in addition to changing the ending, he was disturbed by the way the producer spoke to the student, the “tone used” and the way the producer spoke to the teacher. “I asked her then if I take out the article and my students write on their pages, narrate the film, what will happen? And she replied that she would consult her lawyers.”

The first lesson about dignity and freedom of speech

“It's the first time something like this has happened. It was finally like a lesson, a lesson that I think I couldn't teach them otherwise, in which I explained to them that they have to preserve their dignity and respect their freedom of opinion in the article. I mean, they know very well that there can be no censorship. Because we really care about training them in this way, proof that ALECART is a partner of international festivals like FILIT and they write chronicles of events of theater, that is, they are involved in cultural activity. The magazine is actually a way to stimulate their cultural curiosity,” the professor added.

HotNews requested a point of view from the film team and we received a written response from Adela Vrînceanu, the producer and the director's wife.

The producer: “Critics' opinions are important, and we did not request the censorship of criticism, but only the protection of the public from information”

“It is a big misunderstanding. They were asked to avoid describing the denouement. We wanted the audience to enjoy the film without knowing the key moments beforehand. We did not ask for the change of critical opinions. We did not ask for the modification of the analysis. We did not follow the limitation of editorial freedom. We respected the chronicle and the work of the author. Our prayer comes from concern for the viewer, not to have revealed the end of the film. That's it,” said Adela Vrînceanu Celebidachi.

“To be even more clear, that text was even favorable to the film, we have no problem even with those who criticize us. For example, we received a harsh review in Films in Frame, and today we gave an interview to all the people from Films in Frame, without having a problem. We respect the point of view of any author, whether we are talking about Alecart or any other publication.”

“Film criticism helps the public to better understand the artistic process, I think it does not have the role of reconstructing the story step by step. It offers a perspective on the film without canceling its impact. Critics' opinions are important, and we did not request the censorship of criticism, but only the protection of the public from information that would have destroyed the charm of the discovery of the denouement”, added Adela Vrînceanu Celebidachi.

Radu Vancu: “As long as there are high school students in Romania capable of educating adults, we still have a chance“

In the public space, several filmmakers, teachers and festival coordinators who showed solidarity with the Alecart team and consider that this was the “intimidation of some teenagers”.

“I swear on my red pioneer tie that I didn't think something like this was possible: intimidating some teenagers because they didn't write “properly” about a film released in cinemas (so the phase with “gives spoilers” is embarrassing). Criticism is not, it shouldn't be promotional material! I'm glad that Emil & Nicoleta Munteanu decided to play in public. It's a much more important lesson for their students than the hundreds of lessons in the classroom”, reacted Bogdan Crețu, university professor at the Faculty of Letters, within the University of Iasi, and literary critic.

“I apologize, but I am seething with indignation. In the meantime, the ALECART website, an exemplary high school magazine, which I have been following for years, was simply blocked. Shame on the film team, their gesture is unclassifiable!”, wrote Miruna Runcan, university professor at the Faculty of Theater and Television at UBB Cluj.

“For the “Yellow Tie” team: the situation you have created is a catastrophe. For the Alecart team (the high school students & their two teachers, Nicoleta & Emil Munteanu, impeccable as always): thank you. As long as there are high school students in Romania capable of educating adults, we still have a chance,” wrote writer Radu Vancu.

What Gorzo and Morozov wrote in the chronicles

Andrei Gorzo, in his chronicle, criticizes the actions of the film team and asks rhetorically “Are the perpetrators of this cultural act so alien to any understanding of cinema as art that they do not realize that the purpose of some chronicles is not to be marketing tools? That the authors of the chronicles have no reason to obey their orders? That, in serious criticism, the baubaul of the spoiler is just childish?”

Andrei Gorzo also writes that “from the first images of the little boy hiding from his father to commune with the music, we are in full kitsch”, continuing with the explanation of what is a spoiler. “Not to mention the fact that there's nothing spoiler-it here. A spoiler might go like this: 'Guys, be careful, the murder on the Orient Express was actually committed by all the passengers together!'”

Victor Morozov, a film critic, called the film, in a chronicle, a “plastic kitsch that thinks it's a mausoleum.” Met with endless praise, The Yellow Tie is a 'beautiful' and swear-free film, indeed – but that doesn't make it any less vulgar.”