Valeriu Sepi, artist vizual, fost membru al formației Phoenix

Născut în 1945, în 1 noiembrie, la Reşiţa, Valeriu Sepi şi-a petrecut copilăria la Valcani, o localitate de lângă graniţa cu Iugoslavia. Este nepotul lui Graţian Sepi (II), celebru fotbalist la echipa Ripensia Timişoara şi  fost căpitan al „naţionalei” de fotbal. Valeriu însuşi a fost polisportiv, pasionat de atletism, canotaj şi box.

După ce a absolvit Politehnica din Reşiţa, şi-a îndreptat atenţia înspre arta plastică la Timişoara, unde i-a avut profesori şi mentori pe Leon Vreme, Peter Jecza sau Deliu Petroiu.

În 1968 se alătură lui Nicu Covaci şi Josef Kappl în „Phoenix” concepând afişe pentru albumele formaţiei şi cântând la percuţie pe instrumente construite de el: capre sau tobe din piele de viţel. De aici s-a ales cu supranumele de „căprarul de la Phoenix”.

În domeniul artelor vizuale, Valeriu Sepi a abordat cu succes pictura, desenul, sculptura sau designul. Aproape 25 de ani a locuit la Singapore.

Personalitatea şi talentul său i-au adus notorietate nu doar în Europa, ci şi în Asia, America de Sud sau Australia, lucrările sale aflându-se în muzee, galerii, colecţii particulare sau localuri din România, Germania, Singapore, Brazilia, Australia, Indonezia, Malaezia, Thailanda și Nepal.


EXHIBITIONS
1971 Fine Art Museum in Timisoara
1975-1985 Annual exhibitions organized in Timisoara, Lugoj, Bucuresti
1986 personal exhibition in Heidelberg, Germany in my own gallery
1987 Group exhibition in Aachen and Heidelberg / Germany
1992-1994 mural paintings in Harry’s Bar, Salvatore Pasta Fresco, G. P. Bastian, Susy Wong Bar, South Bridge Road / Singapore
1994 personal exhibition in Swee Guan gallery / Singapore
1998 personal exhibition The four elements at Art Forum Gallery
1998 Culture Color Conexions, itinerant group exhibition at: Takashimaia, Kuala Lumpur, Perth
1998 group exhibition at Oberoi Hotel, Bali, Indonezia
2000 group exhibition Various Artists – New Works, Taksu gallery, KL
2000 personal exhibition in Sun Jin Gallery / Singapore
2000 group exhibition at Arang, Taksu gallery, KL
2001 mural painting commissioned by Changi Chapel Museum, Singapore
2002 mural painting „The Last Battle” in the memory of Malaysian army, commissioned by Bukit Chandu Museum, Singapore
2003 personal exhibition at Niteroi Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazilia
2005 personal exhibition at TCC Singapore
2005 mural painting and ambient design at Orchard Tower, Singapore
2005 personal exhibition at Sabana Cor, Johor, Malaiezia
2006 personal exhibition Resurrection, Helios Gallery, Timișoara / Romania
2009 personal exhibition, Helios gallery, Timișoara / Romania
2013 mural painting commissioned by Chuck Wagon / Singapore
2014 personal exhibition at Garana Jazz Festival / Romania
2014 personal exhibition at Helios Gallery – Timisoara / Romania
2014 personal exhibition at “Book Sign” bookstore – Resita / Romania

OTHER ARTISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Mural decoration – Youth Center in Timisoara, together with the sculptor Peter Jecza
Mosaic at the West University in Timisoara with the artists Leon Vreme, Adalbert Luca, Sulea Gorj
1967-1986 Posters and cover design for rock and jazz bands
Scenography for the Resita Theater / Romania
Actor in Țiganiada Play written by Victor Cârcu at West University Theater, Timisoara, Romania
2099 Scenography for The Clouds by Aristofan, director: Sabin Popescu
Fine art and pedagogical activities in Nepal
1972-1973 International Politic Theatre Festival, The Mirrors play, Zagreb / Serbia
Acting in various movies with the Phoenix Band (The foreign Agent, Immortals …)
Documentary movie on my life and work Valeriu Sepi – Alone but with myself, director Florin Mândruleanu

Pedro Almodóvar, a Spanish filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer, and former actor. He has won two Academy Awards, five British Academy Film Awards, six European Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, nine Goya Awards and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival

Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (born 25 September 1949)^[1] is a Spanish filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer, and former actor.
He came to prominence as a director and screenwriter during La Movida Madrileña, a cultural renaissance that followed after the end of Francoist Spain. His first few films characterised the sense of sexual and political freedom of the period. In 1986, he established his own film production company, El Deseo, with his younger brother Agustín Almodóvar, responsible for producing all of his films since Law of Desire (1987).
Almodóvar achieved international recognition for his black comedy-drama film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and went on to more succesromantic comedy film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990), the melodrama High Heels (1991) and the romantic drama thriller Live Flesh (1997). His subsequent two films won an Academy Award each: All About My Mother (1999) received the award for Best Foreign Language Film while Talk to Her (2002) earned him the award for Best Original Screenplay. Almodóvar followed this with the drama Volver (2006), the romantic thriller Broken Embraces (2009), the psychological thriller The Skin I Live In (2011) and the dramas Julieta (2016) and Pain and Glory (2019), all of which were in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
His films are marked by his employment of certain actors and creative personnel, complex narratives, melodrama, pop culture, popular songs, irreverent humour, strong colours, and glossy décor. Desire, passion, family, and identity are among Almodóvar's most prevalent themes.
Acclaimed as one of the most internationally successful Spanish filmmakers, Almodóvar and his films have gained worldwide interest and developed a cult following. He has won two Academy Awards, five British Academy Film Awards, six European Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, nine Goya Awards and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1997, Almodóvar received the French Legion of Honour, followed by the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1999.
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001^[1] and received an honorary doctoral degree in 2009 from Harvard University^[2] in addition to an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Oxford in 2016^[3] for his contribution to the arts. In 2013, he received an honorary European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award.^[4] In January 2017 he was named as President of the Jury for the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.^[5] In 2019, he was awarded the Honorary Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

George Lucas, an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. Lucas is known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises

George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. Lucas is known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic. He was the chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012.^[3]
After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas wrote and directed THX 1138 (1971), based on his earlier student short Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was the film American Graffiti (1973), inspired by his youth in early 1960s Modesto, California, and produced through the newly founded Lucasfilm. The film was critically and commercially successful, and received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Lucas' next film, the epic space opera Star Wars (1977), had a troubled production but was a surprise hit, becoming the highest-grossing film at the time, winning six Academy Awards and sparking a cultural phenomenon. Lucas produced and cowrote the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). With director Steven Spielberg, he created the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Temple of Doom (1984), and The Last Crusade (1989). He also produced and wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s and during this same period Lucas' LucasArts developed high-impact video games, including Maniac Mansion (1987), The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) and Grim Fandango (1998) alongside many video games based on the Star Wars universe.
In 1997, Lucas rereleased the Star Wars trilogy as part of a Special Edition, featuring several alterations; home media versions with further changes were released in 2004 and 2011. He returned to directing with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, comprising The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). He later collaborated on served as executive producer for the war film Red Tails (2012) and wrote the CGI film Strange Magic (2015).
Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful filmmakers and has been nominated for four Academy Awards. His films are among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the North American box office, adjusted for ticket-price inflation.^[4] Lucas is considered a significant figure in the New Hollywood era.

Ștefan Dobay, a Romanian football legend who played as a striker and manager. He appeared at the 1934 and 1938 World Cups as a forward and scoring a goal in each tournament

Ștefan Dobay (n. 26 septembrie 1909,^[1] Dumbrăvița[*], Dumbrăvița, Timiș, România – d. 7 aprilie 1994, Târgu Mureș, România), poreclit „Calul”, s-a născut la data de 26 septembrie 1909 în comuna timișeană Dumbrăvița. Acesta a fost ucenic la fabrica de argint, la fabrica de cărămidă și, ulterior, funcționar la arhivele municipiului Timișoara, începând fotbalul la vârsta de 10 ani în competițiile organizate pe străzi.

După o primă perioadă petrecută la Banatul Timișoara, club alături de care a devenit campion regional în 1927, Dobay ajunge la Ripensia în 1930, la numai 21 de ani. Timp de zece ani a apărat cu glorie culorile clubului, câștigând de patru ori titlul național și de două ori Cupa României alături de Ripensia. Alături de aceste trofee se mai adaugă și patru titluri de golgheter obținute în 1933, 1934, 1935 și 1937.

Alergarea sa în galop, de unde și-a dobândit porecla mai sus amintită, și șuturile trimise cu o forță teribilă, l-au transformat pe Dobay într-un adevărat coșmar pentru adversari. S-a consacrat pe postul de extremă stânga, post pe care a evoluat și în echipa națională, cu care a participat la două turnee finale ale Campionatului Mondial, în 1934 și 1938 și la cinci ediții ale Cupei Balcanice.
Legenda șuturilor sale năprasnice pornește de la o faptă reală, petrecută la un meci de Divizia A dintre Juventus București si „Ripi”, cum era alintată trupa fanion a Banatului. Cibi Braun, însuși căpitanul echipei Juventus, povestește această întâmplare care a avut loc în sezonul 1935-1936 la București, în fața unui stadion arhiplin. „În minutul 8, Ghiță Ciolac l-a deschis splendid pe Dobay, iar Calul a pornit-o în galop! Apoi, după ce a scăpat și de Nicky Petrescu, de la vreo 10 metri și-a expediat ghiuleaua spre poarta lui Enderffi. Ei bine, dragii mei, șutul acela n-a fost șut, ci un adevărat trăsnet! Mingea a spart plasa porții și a ieșit afară. Pot să vă spun cu mâna pe inimă că toată viața mea n-am întâlnit lovitură atât de puternică. Balonul a trecut ca ghiuleaua din tun și pe oricine l-ar fi întâlnit în cale cred că l-ar fi doborât la pământ. Tribunele au început să aplaude cu frenezie.”
Într-un interviu cu marele cronicar sportiv Ioan Chirilă, „Calul”, aflat la pensie, în 1966, rememorează o parte din calitățile sale de fotbalist.

„Eu porneam ca din praștie fără să mă uit înapoi – știam că Șubi (Schwartz) face vreo două fente ca să simuleze o pasă în partea opusă și mă trezeam deodată cu mingea în față, dar o minge atât de perfectă, pe fuleu! Odată mingea primită, coboram în viteză spre poartă. Prea tehnic n-am fost niciodată. Nu mă pricepeam la finețuri. Eu știam una și bună: arunci mingea pe lângă, și ocolești adversarul la economie, pe tangentă, apoi izbește, tot în viteză. Ionică Bogdan a fost un mare dribleur, dacă aș fi vrut să-l imit aș fi fost un surogat. ˝Ștefan dragă, tu ești făcut să pui ștampile. Subi scrie cererea, tu pui ștampila și dai drumul la gol.”

„Am muncit mult pentru șut. Încă de mic. Am început-o cu zidul. Pe zid desenam cercuri cu creta roșie. Trăgeam în toate cercurile din toate pozițiile, de pe loc și din mișcare, apoi din viteză; am micșorat cercurile și am mărit distanța, apoi cu adversar (Chiroiu) și cu portar (Pavlovici). Cel care dă gol e omul care aduce ploaia!”

După ce și-a încheiat cariera de fotbalist, Dobay a urmat și cariera de antrenor. A început la Constanța, la echipele CFR și Dezrobirea, continuând la Locomotiva Tg Mureș, Flacăra Moreni, Dinamo București, CCA, ASM Lugoj, UTA și CFR Cluj. Dobay a fost și antrenor de lot național, cele mai bune rezultate ca tehnician obținându-le cu CCA, prin câștigarea Cupei României (1955) și obținerea titlului național (1956).
Din motive de sănătate, Dobay se pensionează în 1960, suferind de artroză coxofemurală, boală în urma căruia a fost nevoit să suporte numeroase intervenții chirurgicale. Ultimii ani din viață îi trăiește la Târgu Mureș, unde se stinge din viață pe 7 aprilie 1994, la venerabila vârstă de 84 de ani.

Hermano "Nano" da Silva Ramos, a former racing driver of dual French-Brazilian nationality. Da Silva Ramos participated in seven Formula One World Championship Grands Prix

Hermano^[1] João "Nano" da Silva Ramos (born 7 December 1925) is a former racing driver of dual French-Brazilian nationality.^[2] He had a French mother and a Brazilian father.^[3]


Da Silva Ramos was born in Paris, France. He first ventured into motor racing, driving an MG TC, in March 1947, when at the age of 21, he competed in the Interlagos Grand Prix in Brazil.^[3] During 1953 he began racing an Aston Martin DB2/4 in sports car races in France. In 1954 at Montlhéry, he crossed the line in second place in the Paris Cup but was winner of the Coupe de Montlehery. In the same year, he also participated in the Le Mans 24 hour race, with Jean-Paul Colas as his co-driver, being forced to retire after 14 hours following a rear axle failure. Also in 1954, he ran out of fuel whilst leading the Tour de France Auto and retired with a damaged engine in the Rally of Morocco. Later in the year in the Salon Cup, in which he also had to retire, he drove a Gordini Type 18.^[3] In 1955 he (with co-driver Lucas) were disqualified for speeding in the Monte Carlo Rally, eventually classified 46th and 4th in class, won the Coupe de Montlhery again, won the Rally Sable-Solesmes and was 5th in the GT class of the Mille Miglia with co-driver Vidille.^[4]
Da Silva Ramos participated in seven Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 19 June 1955 and scoring a total of two championship points.


“Nano” , as he is affectionately called, is good company, rarely without a smile, and has a way of standing back and observing things that went on around him. Indeed he was on the sidelines of the “Behra Affair” that eventually saw Jean Behra booted out of the Ferrari team only to die two weeks later in a sports car accident at the Avus track in a Porsche.
Nano’s first race was back in Brazil with an old MG but then he moved to France and in the early 1950s he visited Le Mans as a spectator. He was intrigued by the Aston Martins and ordered a DB2 Coupe.
When we went to collect the car in Paris he met Mike Sparken, a French-born enthusiast who the same Aston as Nano was about to buy so Mike ordered ordered an identical car.
Ironically both of them were eventually to drive and race Ferraris. At that time a number of racing drivers in Paris used to visit “Jimmy’s Club” and early one morning, about 5.00 am, da Silva Ramos and English racing drivers Peter Collins and Lance Macklin decided to have a race round the famous Arc de Triomphe in the middle of Paris. Not only that, they decided to race round it clockwise which is the wrong way round and were lucky not to meet any traffic. As Nano explained “We were lucky, the streets of Paris were quiet and there were no police around!”
French racing car constructor Amedee Gordini saw da Silva Ramos race his street Aston Martin and was impressed and offered him a Gordini sports car and later grand prix drive but this came to an end in 1957. Nano’s best friend was the Marquis de Portago and when he was killed in the Mille Miglia that year Nano decided to quit racing. A year later, however, thanks to his French racing friend Jean Estager, who owned and raced Ferrari 250GT TdF s/n 0749GT, he came back into racing.
In the 1957 Tour de France Estager had shared the car with grand prix driver Harry Schell who comprehensively damaged it when he hit a little Citroen 2CV that had strayed on to a closed special stage. Now repaired, Estager sold 0749GT to da Silva Ramos who took the former owner with him on the 1958 Tour de France. They finished third overall behind winners Olivier Gendebien/Lucien Bianchi ( TdF 1033GT) and Maurice Trintignant/ Francois Picard (TdF 0901GT).

Nano continued to race the Ferrari but in 1959 was invited by Enzo Ferrari to join Ferrari’s sports car squad which led to him being selected to share a TR59 at Le Mans that year with Jean Behra.

Behra was already grumpy because he thought he was team leader at Ferrari . In fact, Enzo Ferrari had not specifically named a team leader but left the drivers to fight it out between themselves. Everything started to come to a head at Le Mans where the relatively calm team manager Romolo Tavoni was driven to distraction by Behra.
First of all, Behra insisted he did not want to be paired with da Silva Ramos and wanted Dan Gurney to race with him; Tavoni aquiesed placing da Silva Ramos with Cliff Allison and assigning Gurney to the Behra car. But that was not enough, for during first practice da Silva Ramos was quickest of the Ferrari’s.

At the French Grand Prix, two weeks later, Behra roundly criticised Ferrari, and the grand prix car he had been given, to one of the French newspapers and this was duly reported back to Enzo Ferrari.
Tavoni received a telephone call in France telling him that Jean Behra must report to Maranello on the Monday after the race and apologise. When Behra and Tavoni arrived in Maranello for the Monday meeting they found Enzo Ferrari had brought along two Italian motoring journalists to witness the apology: Behra refused. At this Enzo Ferrari lifted the telephone and asked his financial director Emelio della Casa to confirm any money that was owed to Behra, to make out a cheque and Behra was fired on the spot.
Meanwhile Behra had built his own grand prix car, the Behra-Porsche that Maria Teresa de Fillipis had raced. Behra then decided to race the car himself in the German Grand Prix at the banked and frighteningly fast Avus circuit. Sadly, in a support race for sports cars, his Porsche Spyder slid up the banking and over the edge; Behra was killed instantly.
As for da Silva Ramos, the Le Mans race in 1959 was also his final race as he was faced with family problems and decided to hang up his helmet for good.  (F1 Grand Prix Drivers Club)