The World According to John Coltrane [2010]

A homeless man in his sixties has lived for years on a mattress among the bins in the courtyard of a Bucharest apartment building. His name is Ion Barladeanu and he is currently one of the most sought-after modern Romanian artists. In an old suitcase, he has stashed his brilliant collages, which were displayed at an exhibition in London in 2009, right beside the work of Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp. A year later, he had a solo exhibition dedicated to his work in Paris. Without the help of gallery owner Dan Popescu, however, Ion Barladeanu's fairytale progression from the streets of Bucharest to prestigious international galleries would have been unthinkable. Alexander Nanau's sensitive portrait introduces us to a man whose difficult journey through life has seen him hit rock bottom. Nonetheless, he is also a distinctive artist, who manages to mock human pettiness and the cruelty of the Ceausescu regime in collages steeped in irony.