Oscar-winning Natalia Musteata speaks about her Armenian heritage — previous assessment revised

In our publication two days ago about Oscar-winning filmmaker Natalia Musteata- who won at the Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles on March 15- we reported that claims about her Armenian roots could not be confirmed. Before publication, we had also reached out to the filmmaker seeking clarification, but received no response.

New information has since emerged. Specifically, in two separate interviews given over the past two days, the filmmaker has spoken about her Armenian heritage. In all previously available interviews, she had spoken about her Romanian background without any reference to Armenian roots.

On March 20, the Armenian Film Society, based in the United States, and The Armenian Report published interviews with Natalia Musteatа in which she discussed her Armenian heritage. In her interview with the Armenian Film Society, Musteata stated that her maternal grandmother, Luiza Derderian-Marcoci, came from an Armenian family. She also recounted that her grandmother spoke to her in both Armenian and Romanian, and that she had spoken Armenian as a child but later lost the language. 

In her interview with The Armenian Report, Musteata similarly spoke about her Armenian roots, emphasizing her grandmother's influence on her life and creative path. 

Luiza Derderian-Marcoci was an actress. 

Accordingly, the interviews conducted with the filmmaker in recent days provide grounds for revising the earlier assessment regarding her Armenian heritage.