Starting next month, London will be the site of the 5th annual Romanian Film Festival < http://www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk/filmfestival/index.html>, featuring a program dedicated to promoting the best of contemporary Romanian cinema. This year’s program is centered on the theme of Home and Away, and will feature both films were made in Romania and works by Romanian filmmakers who live abroad.
Romanian cinema has recently seen a groundswell in critically acclaimed and internationally recognized films by Romanian auteurs, including Christian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days” < https://cinemawithoutborders.com/news/126/ARTICLE/1475/2008-02-18.html>, which won the 2007 Palme d’Or at Cannes. Other Romanian filmmakers, including Christi Puiui (“The Death of Mr.Lăzărescu”) and Corneliu Porumboiu (“12:08 East of Bucharest”), have gained international recognition in recent years for their work, helping give further attention to the new Romanian film movement.
The festival will open on April 10th with a screening of the late Cristian Nemescu’s “California Dreamin’”, a winner of the 2007 “Un Certain Regard” prize at Cannes. The festival will run through April 13th.
The Home & Away program is broken into more specific themes for each day, including “survival lessons”, “journeys thick through thin”, and “(sort of) fun on the run”).
A full list of the 2008 program:
THURSDAY 10 APRIL 2008
be/-longing
6.00 pm / Opening film
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ (ENDLESS)
Cristian Nemescu
Romania, 2007
FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2008
(sort of ) fun on the run
6.30 pm / Shorts
IN THE MORNING
Radu Jude
Romania, 2007
BAKHTALO!
Robert Lakatos
Hungary/Austria, 2004
(documentary)
LIFE’S HARD
Gabriel Sirbu
Romania, 2007
INSPIRATION
Igor Cobileanski
Moldova, 2007
SASHA, GRISHA & ION
Igor Cobileanski
Moldova, 2006
8.50 pm
THE CRUISE
Mircea Daneliuc
Romania, 1981
SATURDAY 12 APRIL 2008
survival lessons
4.00 pm / Shorts
THE BOXING LESSON
Alexandru Mavrodineanu
Romania, 2007
HOME
Paul Negoescu
Romania, 2007
THURSDAY
Hadrian Marcu
Romania, 2007
SANDPIT #186
Adina Pintilie / George Chiper
Romania, 2006
REALITY WON’T BITE
Marius Olteanu
UK, 2008
6.15 pm
TELEPHONE CALL ABROAD
Hanno Hofer
Romania, 1998
OCCIDENT
Cristian Mungiu
Romania, 2002
8.30 pm
A GOOD DAY FOR A SWIM
Bogdan Mustata
Romania, 2008
COLD WAVES
Alexandru Solomon
Romania/Germany/Luxembourg, 2007
(documentary)
SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2008
journeys through thick and thin
2.00 pm
TESTIMONY
Razvan Georgescu
Germany/Romania, 2008
(documentary)
4.10 pm
STORY
Dana Ranga
Germany, 2003
(documentary )
6.10 pm
THE ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN AT THE STATION
Bogdan Apetri
USA, 2006
THE REST IS SILENCE
Nae Caranfil
Romania, 2007