Who We Are

Bucharest Express, a film by Chuck Portz, is a feature-length motion picture produced by SawHorse Productions from the USA and Moldova-Film Studio, the only filmmaking and cinema services provider in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. Bucharest Express was co-written by Chuck Portz and Peter Eichstaedt and directed by Mr. Portz. The music of the soundrack was composed by Liviu Stirbu.

Chuck Portz has produced, written and/or directed three films for PBS: Staus, My Man Bovanne and A Mistaken Charity, for which he received a Writers Guild nomination for best screenplay. During his most recent trip to Moldova he completed research supported by a Fulbright grant.

Peter Eichstaedt is currently working in Armenia as a journalism teacher, advisor, and consultant. A career journalist and recipient of numerous regional journalism awards, Mr. Eichstaedt has extensive foreign experience including coverage of the war in Kosovo and its aftermath for the Seattle Times and the Dallas Morning News. Mr. Eichstaedt is the author of If You Poison Us (Red Crane, 1994), a true story about the devastation of uranium mining to Native Americans in the US Southwest.

Liviu (Levon) Stirbu who composed the Bucharest Express Soundrack is the musical director of the "Ginta Latina" Cultural Center in Chisinau. He studied composition at the "Gavriil Musicescu" State Conservatory in Chisinau where he graduated in 1992 to do his post-graduate studies in composition at the Bucharest Academy of Music. His work include Piano Concertos and piano pieces (Toccata, Sonata, Variatos), the "Miorita" folk rock-opera, theatre music for about 30 drama plays, musical and children plays as well as music for 13 artistic and documentary films and more than 200 songs and instrumental pieces. 

SawHorse Productions (LLC) is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Executive Producer Willits H. Sawyer, Co-Producer Sterling Youngman, CFO Perry Wootten and Assistant Producer Rosalie Hornblower bring extensive international experience and diverse backgrounds to the project. SawHorse Productions has retained the services of several key advisors for Bucharest Express, including Dr. Brian Carter, Michael Dyett, Paul Gasek and Steve Soler.

Moldova-Film Studios was established in 1952 and has released 165 fiction films, 1,900 documentary films and more than 50 animated cartoons (see link to Moldova-Film on our Links page). The Last Month in Autumn won the Grand-Prix at Cannes as well as honors at the Argentina Film Festival. Their animated cartoon Haiducul (An Outlaw) won the Grand-Prix at Cannes for animation. The films Lautarii (The Fiddlers) and Omul Merge Dupa Soare (A Man Goes After the Sun) each became laureates of several international prizes. Moldova-Film Studio has also received awards for the films Se Cauta un Paznic (A Porter is Wanted), Gustul Piinii (A Taste of Bread) and Poienile Roshii (Red Glades).

The studio is fully equipped to carry out the complete technological cycle involved in motion picture production (from the screenplay to the release). The company is located in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. This former Soviet Republic is near the Black Sea (200 Km) and the Carpati mountains (200 Km). It boasts a very favorable geographic position and climate for shooting year-round.