Major Fartunescu

Our story takes place somewhere in another country. A country that’s so small, it’s hard to find it on a map. After scouting locations, we had a few options: Croatia, The Czech Republic, and Romania, to name a few.

But we decided to shoot the movie in the capital of Moldova, where locals are always happy to greet visitors. Shooting the movie there, we feature beautiful locations, local themes of music and of course, tasty cognac and wine, which we made sure to sample as much as we could for the movie’s main character.

Part of my education was as a chorus conductor and I graduated from the Chisinau Music College, in Moldova, and as such I had to take the state exam in the Moldovian language.

Obviously, this language, as well as Romanian, was memorable for the rest of my life. That’s why when I was writing the script it seemed to me right to name our main character with a little local flavor: Major Perdunescu (English version: Major Fartunescu). I think that almost everyone will agree with me that our hero has the perfect name, because "Perdunescu" means "I'm sorry" or "forgive me" in Romanian, according to my phone’s translator app. Major Pardon Me is not so bad! And if you look at the root of the word "Pardu", it translates as "blinds" or "curtain." Major Curtain is not bad either! Fartunescu has also some meanings at the root — it could come from "fart" but also, it could come from the word Fortuna.

So, if you fart at the right place, in the right time surrounded by the right people, well, it’s a fortuna! No matter what you call him, Major Fartunescu is a real hero, practically the last honest policeman in another country, who decides to clean his city from all kinds of dirty scum! Mmmm, dirty scum!

We hope you enjoy the movie as much as we did making it. Now, please, wash up!

"Major Fartunescu" is a hilarious and ridiculous parody on cop and detective movies, stylistically returning to the now classic comedies, "The Naked Gun", "Police Squad," "Airplane," and others. Actually, we followed the blueprint from the Zucker brothers.

At first, we started with the idea of a sketch show "Once upon a time in a Police Department" about a special Department 13 from a nearby small country. The nearest country to Odessa, Ukraine, where I was born turned out to be Moldova, which was easy to travel to when we started production.

Who knew that we’d be finishing the movie as rockets blared overhead and the evacuation alarms are going off on a regular basis? But honestly, the main character we created, Major Perdunescu (English: Fartunescu), helped me to finish this project: he’s not afraid of anything or anyone.

We shot the pilot, which passed the focus group quite well. Then we shot a little bit more… and a little bit more… until suddenly we had to stop, when our world turned upside down. I always try to create in my projects a kind of atmospheric alternate reality where we can transport our audience. Same with "Major Fartunescu" the film takes place "somewhere in another country," but also in "our time" (well, before February 24, 2022, at least!).

Anyway this peaceful "our" time" has some elements from the 90s, and some from the 2030s. In any case, it is a peculiar world with its own advantages and disadvantages. It has crime, and punishment, good and evil, love and jealousy. But most importantly, in this world and in our film, there is a huge amount of positive energy, humor and good times, which in today’s climate is much needed.

I’m sure that "Major Fartunescu and the Misadventures of Department 13" will make its way into the online library of millions of fans as a comedy which they will watch many times as an ANTIDOTE for depression, fear, warfare, and separation from loved ones.