“I think I have enough experience and thirst for more”, said Mihai Poiata, author, filmmaker, playwright and teacher, at a soiree celebrating his 60th birth anniversary on December 4, attended by friends and admirers. “I've known Mihai Poiata for years, ever since we were colleagues at the Academy of arts. Today we have ambitious plans together of pulling the cinematography from the doldrums”, revealed the Minister of Culture, Boris Focsa, who came to congratulate the artist, bringing along a diploma of recognition signed by the prime-minister. Mihai Poiata told his guests the “ambitious plans” involved a competition aiming at encouraging young talents in cinematography. “It is a great thing that the realities in our countries are genuine materials. Dramas, comedies, farces, novels, stories, a material so complex and esthetically exquisite that it would be a pity not to explore this reality and give it an artistic expression”, the artist said. Mihai Poiata observed that the Moldovan cinematography is now at sea, because the ambition to become a cultural center has been lost. “Maybe some day all the Moldovan artists dispersed around the world will return home with the fruits of their work”, he sighed. Today, Mihai Poiata is working on a monograph about the famed band Noroc titled “Noroc and the Rock”. Other plans include several novels, one of which will be dedicated to his childhood and one about the present days. “It depends which of them will be more insistent to pull me to my working desk first”. Dumitru Olarescu, doctor of arts, praised Mihai Poiata for having mastered the art of cinematography. “He entered into this coquettish, attractive art, which is at the same time very difficult”. Mihai Poiata is a member of the Writers Union and Filmmakers Union. His works won him the Civic Merit Medal (1996) and the Mihai Eminescu Medal (2000). His filmography includes “Voiaj de nunta inainte de nunta” /Honeymoon before the Wedding/ (1982), “O primavara care a inceput in... octombrie” /Spring that Began in October/ (1997), “O noua tactica a necuratului” /Devil's Plot/ (1989). His achievements as an author include “Monolog in patru voci” /Monologue in Four Voices/ (1988), “Tentatia contactelor imposibile” /Temptation of Impossible Contacts/ (1999), “Reguli de circulatie pentru apele subterane” /Traffic Rules for Underground Waters/ (2006).