I had finished editing the film, and I found myself offering to make the poster layout myself. Bucovina, the places where I filmed, the villagers who participated in the filming remained imprinted in my memory. I wanted the movie poster to represent that unique, special world, but such a complex film, the characters, their dramas, the thread of events would have been extremely difficult to represent in two dimensions. I wanted it made in the manner of Naïve  paintings, as a popular artist would have done it, one of the peasants of Pârtești, where we shot the film.

The absence of such popular artist, left me to become the Naïve painter. I looked for a plywood of the right size, but as I couldn’t find one, I ended up using a piece of cardboard.

I hadn’t painted in a long time, and never in the „ Naïve” style. I tried, then I gained courage and after a few sleepless nights, I managed to “retell” in colour the whole movie. If you look closely, all the characters can be recognized. I even included the main crew members of the film.

Once printed, the posters seemed to grow wings, ran out long before the premiere of the film. Enthusiasts wanted them on the walls of their homes and offices. Not even the team members got the promised copies. I kept the original painting, I took it home, to the apartment where I lived at the time.

I found out later that all the things in that apartment, that had once belonged to me, scripts, photographs, books, etc., had perished consumed by the flames of revenge. With them, the artwork of the poster was lost forever …

The only poster left, my copy, has become the centre piece on the wall of the apartment where I moved with my family many years later. We had to leave it behind, when we left the country. It was glued to the wall. In some of the photos I still have, the poster can be noticed in the background. Colour spots in the grey world we had left.

Throughout the many trips back from Australia I kept asking, trying to find a copy, but had no luck.  The poster for that first movie I directed seemed lost forever.

In 2019, returning for the filming of a new project, I happened to be called by an old friend and colleague from the years spent in the Studios in Buftea. She had found out I was in the country, and wanted to see me. Beyond the joy of the reunion, she told me that in my old house, recently emptied, she found a poster, which she assumed that belonged to me. She handed over a large package. I still feel the emotion of the moment of unpacking, when a corner of an unmistakable naive painting appeared from under the packaging layers. After almost forty years, I had in front of me the original hand painted artwork of the poster designed for URGIA!

I have the honour and privilege to present it to you, my friends … I will forever be grateful to my friend, who made this reunion possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Vilma! Thank you.