GYPSY LOVE 

GYPSY LOVE

 The documentary is dedicated to the memory of the “chief gypsy” of the Soviet cinema, the outstanding actor Mikhai Volontir.

They say gypsy love is changeable, while gypsies are free as the air. “It doesn’t matter, what takes place in the yard. It may rain, snow, stars may fall. Presidents come and go. You just do your thing”,- said Budulai, Mikhai Volontir’s character in the film “Gypsy”.

There are popular films. There are favourite ones. And there are adorable ones. When “Gypsy” was on air, streets turned empty. The entire country felt for Budulai. There were so many letters from the audience, that the producers decided to shoot its sequel “Budulai’s Return”.


Many years past, people learned that the actor was seriously ill: he had diabetes; he was going blind and needed an urgent operation. Meanwhile, the People’s Artist of the USSR Mikhai Volontir, who lived in Moldova at that period, received a tiny pension and barely made two ends meet. Why was the People’s Artist forgotten almost by everyone? How and with whom did he spend his last years and why did he refuse to give any interview? Who was the love of his life and what did he think of women’s constant attention?

The actor’s colleagues and friends joked that Volontir was the best present to all women to the Women’s day, 8 March. His character, a true romantic, was the dream of the better half of the USSR. If people were chosing a sex symbol among actors at that period, this man with greyed temples would definitely win.

The film about Mikhai Volontir includes interviews with his friends from Moldova and his co-actors in “Gypsy”, who shared their memories of his “gypsy” destiny in the film about him: Vladimir Druk, Rafael Ogadzhanyan, Konstantin Stavrat.