Corneliu

The title of Romanian director's Corneliu Porumboiu's new film, which has been receiving enthusiastic tributes at film festivals across the world, is indicative of its conflicted -- one might even say confused -- loyalties. "Police" immediately conveys memories of an entire flotilla of detective films and cop thrillers. But "Adjective"? What is a jarring word like "adjective" doing in a film title? There is, as it turns out, a very precise adjective Porumboiu, director of the acclaimed "12:08 East of Bucharest," has in mind, and it is "intermediate."

The title of Romanian director's Corneliu Porumboiu's new film, which has been receiving enthusiastic tributes at film festivals across the world, is indicative of its conflicted -- one might even say confused -- loyalties. "Police" immediately conveys memories of an entire flotilla of detective films and cop thrillers. But "Adjective"? What is a jarring word like "adjective" doing in a film title? There is, as it turns out, a very precise adjective Porumboiu, director of the acclaimed "12:08 East of Bucharest," has in mind, and it is "intermediate."

Corneliu Bogdan, 68, Romania's new deputy foreign minister. Bogdan served as Romanian ambassador to the United States from 1969 through 1977. He returned to Bucharest and was out of government for a time but later was named to a post in the foreign ministry that gave him authority over Western Hemisphere relations. However, there was friction with the government of Nicolae Ceausescu and he again left the ministry and was placed under what amounted to house arrest.

The level of political debate found on television may hardly seem the stuff of artistic inspiration, but writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu could never shake an on-air contretemps he watched in his tiny hometown of Vaslui, in the eastern part of Romania, in 1999. "The debate was if there was or was not a revolution there," he recalls, referring to the momentous 1989 ousting of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

The level of political debate found on television may hardly seem the stuff of artistic inspiration, but writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu could never shake an on-air contretemps he watched in his tiny hometown of Vaslui, in the eastern part of Romania, in 1999. "The debate was if there was or was not a revolution there," he recalls, referring to the momentous 1989 ousting of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

From every revolution blossom legendary moments. Paul Revere's ride. Marie Antoinette's beheading. A lone Chinese man blocking the path of a Red Army tank in Tien An Men Square. Situations are magnified when performed in the theater of change. But sometimes, in this chaotic environment, circumstances become muddled and legends exaggerated. Last December, the world was entranced by an unfolding drama on the streets of Bucharest, Romania.

Final results showed President-elect Ion Iliescu soundly defeated an ultranationalist whose racist and extremist statements threatened to isolate Romania from mainstream Europe. Iliescu won 67% of Sunday's ballots to Corneliu Vadim Tudor's 33%, according to results published Tuesday by the central electoral bureau.

Romania's new deputy foreign minister has died of a stroke, a government member said today. He was 68. Corneliu Bogdan died late Monday, said Sergiu Nicolaescu, a film director and member of the National Salvation Front leadership that has sought to run the country since the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed. Bogdan served as Romanian ambassador to the United States from 1969 through 1977.

Former King Michael of Romania said today that the country's new leaders are Communists who collaborated with the executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. "The people who are at the head of the provisional government are true Communists who collaborated with Ceausescu," he said in an interview in the French-language daily 24 Heures. "Everybody there knows it," he said. "The Romanians did not fight to be ruled once again by the same people. They do not want to continue with the same order."

Corneliu Manescu, Romania's new acting leader, is an unlikely reformer who followed an almost textbook career path through the Communist bureaucracy that included stints as foreign minister and ambassador to Hungary and France. Manescu, 73, earned world attention as a diplomat in 1967 when he became the first East Bloc Communist statesman to be elected president of the U.N. General Assembly. Born in Ploesti, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains north of Bucharest, on Feb.

Corneliu Bogdan, 68, Romania's new deputy foreign minister. Bogdan served as Romanian ambassador to the United States from 1969 through 1977. He returned to Bucharest and was out of government for a time but later was named to a post in the foreign ministry that gave him authority over Western Hemisphere relations. However, there was friction with the government of Nicolae Ceausescu and he again left the ministry and was placed under what amounted to house arrest.

Tens of thousands of factory workers rallied around the National Salvation Front on Monday, chanting "We will work and back you up" in a demonstration outside the provisional government's headquarters. The demonstrators crowded Bucharest's Victory Square in a counterpoint to earlier protests by opposition parties calling for the resignation of the front. Members of the National Peasants Party and the Liberal Party fled their headquarters as thousands of people later marched on their buildings.

The United States, expressing growing disquiet that Romania's leaders might betray the ideals of last month's revolution, said today it had protested the intimidation of opposition groups there. "We are deeply troubled by what appears to be active intimidation of legitimate organizations which are seeking a legitimate independent role in Romania's new political order," said State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler.