Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie (lutʃiˈan pintiˈli.e; 9 November 1933 – 16 May 2018) was a Romanian theatre, film, and opera director, as well as screenwriter. His career in theatre, opera, film and television has gained him international recognition.
Lucian Pintilie

Cinema Almanac 1971, available at Digiteca Arcanum. This is a cropped version of the image on page 207. · Public domain
- Name
- Lucian Pintilie
- Birth Name
- Lucian Nicolae Pintilie
- Born
- 9 November 1933
- Birthplace
- Tarutino, Kingdom of Romania (today Ukraine)
- Died
- 16 May 2018
- Place of death
- Bucharest, Romania
- Education
- Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art
- Occupation
- Film director, screenwriter
- Nationality
- Romania
- Honours
- Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Romania · Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
- Languages
- Romanian · English · French
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Documentary summary
Lucian Pintilie (lutʃiˈan pintiˈli.e; 9 November 1933 – 16 May 2018) was a Romanian theatre, film, and opera director, as well as screenwriter. His career in theatre, opera, film and television has gained him international recognition.
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Note VALÉORINE
Lucian Pintilie (1933–2018) was a Romanian actor, director and film director, among other activities. Born in Bessarabske, the actor died in Bucharest. Lucian Pintilie studied at Cantemir Vodă National College and Ion Luca Caragiale Bucharest National School.
Languages used include English, French and Romanian. Works by the actor are held at Censored Theatre and Cinema Ad-hoc Collection at CNSAS and Museum of Modern Art.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Lucian Pintilie studied at Ion Luca Caragiale Bucharest National School and Cantemir Vodă National College. The recorded working language is Romanian, English and French. Work by Lucian Pintilie is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art and Censored Theatre and Cinema Ad-hoc Collection at CNSAS. Distinctions recorded are Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Romania and Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania.

Lucian Pintilie (1933–2018) was a Romanian theatre, film, and opera director, as well as screenwriter.
Cinema magazine from June 1, 1966 (No. 6, year IV), available at Digiteca Arcanum. This is a cropped version of the image on page 4.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lucian Pintilie • Birth Name — Lucian Nicolae Pintilie • Born — 9 November 1933 • Birthplace — Tarutino, Kingdom of Romania (today Ukraine) • Died — 16 May 2018 • Place of death — Bucharest, Romania • Resting Place — Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest • Education — Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art • Occupation — Film director, screenwriter
Biography
Biography
Pintilie was born in 1933 in Tarutino, at the time in Cetatea Albă County, Kingdom of Romania. After attending the Cantemir Vodă and Ion Luca Caragiale high schools in Bucharest, he graduated from the Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art in Bucharest. He died in Bucharest at age 84 and was buried in the city's Bellu Cemetery.
Romania
Romania
From 1960 to 1972, Pintilie was resident director at the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest. His productions there included George Bernard Shaw's Cesar and Cleopatra, Lorraine Hansberry's A Place in the Sun, William Saroyan's My Heart's in the Highlands, Max Frisch's Biedermann and the Firebugs, Nikolai Gogol's Inspector General and Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard. He also directed the Romanian classic comedy Carnival Scenes by Ion Luca Caragiale, which won the 1967 Prize for the best direction and best production at the National festival of theatre in Romania.
France
France
From 1973 to 1982, he directed mainly in France at the Théâtre national de Chaillot and the Théâtre de la Ville where he staged, among other plays, Carlo Gozzi's Turandot, Henrik Ibsen's Wild Duck, and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and Seagull.
United States
United States
In the United States, in addition to his work at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Pintilie staged Tartuffe, The Wild Duck, and The Cherry Orchard at Arena Stage.
Opera
Opera
In France, he also directed several operas including a production of Oresteia by Aurel Stroe, based on the Greek tragedy, at the Festival in Avignon and Mozart's Magic Flute at the Festival in Aix-en-Provence. He also directed Bizet's Carmen for the Welsh National Opera of Cardiff, Wales.
Filmography
Filmography
• Sunday at Six o Clock (Duminică la ora șase; 1965; director) • The Reenactment (Reconstituirea; 1968; screenwriter and director) • Ward Six (Paviljon VI; 1978; director) • Carnival Scenes (De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?; 1982; screenwriter and director) - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică • The Oak (Balanța; 1992; screenwriter, producer and director) • An Unforgettable Summer (1994; screenwriter and director) • Too Late (Prea târziu; 1996; screenwriter and director) • Next Stop Paradise (Terminus Paradis; 1998; screenwriter and director) • The Afternoon of a Torturer (2001; screenwriter and director) • Niki and Flo (2003; director) • Tertium non datur (film) (2006; screenwriter and director). For title meaning see Law of excluded middle.
Identity
Identity
Lucian Pintilie is recorded as actor, screenwriter and director.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2018
Lucian Pintilie died at Bucharest.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bessarabske.
Birth place
Bucharest.
Death place
Films (selection)
His films brought him international reputation. Sunday at Six o Clock won the Prize of the Jury at the International film festival in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1966, and the Grand Prize of the Jury at the International Encounter of Films for Youth at Cannes, France, in 1967. In 1968, he directed The Reenactment, considered by film historians to be the most important representation of Romanian cinema. In 1975, he filmed for Yugoslavian television Ward Six, his own adaptation of Chekhov's famous story. It won the Catholic Film Office Prize at the Cannes film festival.
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Lucian Pintilie received Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Romania and Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q967207: Lucian Pintilie
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Lucian Pintilie”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Lucian Pintilie: Romania in Focus, Film Quarterly, 2012
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2012
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lucian Pintilie obituary, The Guardian (30 May 2018)
- 2.Cantemir Vodă National College. Istoric.
- 3.Ion Luca Caragiale National College Bucharest. Alumni. www.cnilcb.ro.
- 4.Cassell Illustrated. 501 Movie Directors. 378. 2007. 9781844035731.
- 5.HotNews. Lucian Pintilie a fost înmormântat cu onoruri militare la Cimitirul Bellu Ortodox. May 19, 2018.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Lucian Pintilie: Romania in Focus, Film Quarterly, 2012Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q967207: Lucian PintilieWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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