THURSDAY 10 APRIL 2008 SATURDAY 12 APRIL 2008 COLD WAVES be/-longing survival lessons Alexandru Solomon Romania/Germany/Luxembourg, 6.00 pm / Opening film 4.00 pm / Shorts 2007 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (ENDLESS) THE BOXING LESSON (documentary) Cristian Nemescu Alexandru Mavrodineanu Romania, 2007 Romania, 2007 HOME SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2008 Paul Negoescu journeys through thick and thin FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2008 Romania, 2007 (sort of ) fun on the run 2.00 pm THURSDAY TESTIMONY 6.30 pm / Shorts Hadrian Marcu Razvan Georgescu IN THE MORNING Romania, 2007 Germany/Romania, 2008 Radu Jude (documentary) Romania, 2007 SANDPIT #186

PROGRAMME Adina Pintilie / George Chiper 4.10 pm BAKHTALO! Romania, 2006 STORY Robert Lakatos Dana Ranga Hungary/Austria, 2004 REALITY WON'T BITE Germany, 2003 (documentary) Marius Olteanu (documentary ) UK, 2008 LIFE'S HARD 6.10 pm Gabriel Sirbu 6.15 pm THE ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN AT THE Romania, 2007 TELEPHONE CALL ABROAD STATION Hanno Hofer Bogdan Apetri INSPIRATION Romania, 1998 USA, 2006 Igor Cobileanski Moldova, 2007 OCCIDENT THE REST IS SILENCE Cristian Mungiu Nae Caranfil SASHA, GRISHA & ION Romania, 2002 Romania, 2007 Igor Cobileanski Moldova, 2006 8.30 pm A GOOD DAY FOR A SWIM 8.50 pm Bogdan Mustata THE CRUISE Romania, 2008 Mircea Daneliuc Romania, 1981

Tickets: £12.00/£9.00 Curzon members. For details on how to become a Curzon member, please go to page 30. Bookings: In person, online www.curzoncinemas.com or by phone 0871 703 3989. Venue: Curzon Mayfair, 38 Curzon Street, W1J 7TY. Closest Tube stations: Green Park and Hyde Park Corner. Dragi prieteni, *

‘Our festival is now five years old.

As these things go it's not a baby any more but, of course, it's not fully mature like the Cannes Film Festival... all that is yet to come - but I think we can call it a teenager (in film festival years!).

And like any adolescent it is now beginning to spread its wings and demonstrate new and surprising qualities.'

Nicolae Ratiu Chairman, Ratiu Foundation California Dreamin’ (Endless)

* - Dear Friends (in Romanian)

3 Dear Friends,

We meet again for our fifth annual disobedient rural Romania, being fast- films coming from places other than celebration of Romanian cinema at Curzon tracked to redefine normality. He gets to Romania and you will agree that they add- Mayfair. meet Dracula too, albeit not in the on nicely to the ones from ‘home’. original plus a helping of Elvis Rromano, As you know, what we like to call New the king of rock'n'Rrom - yet another We lined up a polyglot celebration of great Romanian Cinema has been doing hilarious intersection of the local with the cinema by Romanian film-makers – we marvellously lately. After decades in which global! have English, German, French, Hungarian, it was hardly ‘on the map’, in less than five Rromani, Turkish, some broken Italian and years it has switched to being the At the heart of Nemescu’s film is a twisted even a small helping of Chinese Mandarin! happening cinema on the international version of the American Dream, in which film scene. Romanians waited for the Americans to And we also plan to teach British audiences save them from the Russians in the how to spell some new Romanian names As faithful friends of our festival, you might aftermath of WWII: Americans never came this year, now that they’ve proven their remember that last year we focused on so communism stayed – and today how dedication by learning the likes of Romania’s past imperfect and on New timely is this story of longing and non- ‘Mungiu’, ‘Puiu’ and ‘Porumboiu’. Nemescu Romanian Cinema’s own way of bidding interventionalism! In praise of Nemescu’s died while he was the raising star of New farewell to that past. This year we went for vision, we developed our festival around Romanian Cinema. In praise of his a change – it’s going to be Geography rather the concept of Home & Away. truncated career, we have included two than History. special shorts sessions with the freshest Dislocation and longing provide the names coming out of Romania today. And what better choice for thinking about connective tissue of this year’s programme, longing and belonging than Cristian which includes film-makers, documentary So welcome to our celebration of Romanian Nemescu’s Cannes winner California subjects and fictional characters who cinema’s home-coming into World Cinema, Dreamin’! “It seems to me that the further navigate between the realities, dreams and and also of five years of Romanian Film East you go the more un-punctual are the expectations of here and there. Many films Festival in London! trains”, remarked Jonathan Harker, the in the programme are about journeys – British gentleman journeying by train from territorial, identitary or philosophical; We take pride in having initiated our England to Count Dracula’s remote castle. actual, planned or imagined. festival right at the time when the new In Bram Stoker’s novel, Harker was the voices of Romanian cinema started to be quintessential ‘other’ coming with his array And we must admit that this year we heard at an international level. We’ve been of prejudices, only to be trapped in indulged ourselves in a more fluid sense delighted to share and follow their success Dracula’s lair. of geography when it came to mapping over the past five years and we look ‘Romanian-ness’, by integrating works forward to doing the same in the future. Nemescu’s Cpt. Jones (Armand Assante) is from Romanian film-makers based outside an American Harker for modern times, their birth country. It took some weeks of trapped with his train, troops and all in a compulsive googling, but do check on our Adina Bradeanu - Programme Curator

4 California Dreamin’ (Endless): Armand Assante and Razvan Vasilescu THURSDAY 10 APRIL 2008 6.00 pm be/-longing Followed by Q&A with actor Razvan Vasilescu and producer Andrei Boncea

Opening film:

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ (Endless) (Cristian Nemescu, Romania, 2007, fiction, colour, 155’; Romanian/English with English subtitles) With: Armand Assante, Razvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, Ion Sapdaru, Alex Margineanu, Andi Vasluianu “California Dreamin' is an epic satire, with both Produced by: MediaPro Pictures modern-day Romania Courtesy of Artificial Eye. This film will be released by Artificial Eye in selected cinemas nationwide on 30 May 2008. and US foreign policy firmly in its sights.” Un Certain Regard Award, Cannes 2007 Satyajit Ray Prize, 51st Times London Film Festival 2007 A stubborn station master confronts a NATO mission. In 1999, a NATO train transporting military equipment is stopped in the middle of nowhere by the overzealous and overtly anti-American chief of a train station in Romania. The transport, supervised by American soldiers, is crossing Romania without official documents, based only on the verbal approval of the Romanian government. Set against the backdrop of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the film explores the impact that the arrival of the American soldiers has on the tiny village community: historical experience, corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency and romantic interest concur in a mayhem battle of wills with tragic consequences for the village but not for the Americans. At the end of five intense days, the train resumes its journey leaving behind broken hearts, shattered dreams and a civil war. A cinematic tour de force, as well as a poignant and hilarious comment on parochialism, Nick Roddick, intercultural clashes, and Romania’s long-term fascination with America. London Film Festival

6 When he died at 27 in a car crash which also claimed the life of his sound designer (Andrei Toncu), Nemescu was the most promising voice of New Romanian Cinema, with a distinctive directorial voice and a proven taste for life on the margins. Having recently graduated from film school and with a number of international awards for his short films already gained, Nemescu was interested in sexuality and cinematic language. He aimed to mix fantasy with social realism, and dreamt of walking out of the habitual realist aesthetic of Romanian cinema. All his short films had a sexual intrigue: exploring sexuality was a way to break free from the harsh skin of the real, and to reach out to alternative human and cinematic realms. Instead of a social cinema Nemescu wanted love stories. His cinema was not minimalist, but excessive and flamboyant – a characteristic which also emerges from his feature film, incorporating a newly-discovered interest in social and political comment. The car crash happened late at night when Nemescu was returning home after working on the post- production of California Dreamin’ – his debut feature was also his last film.

Cristian Nemescu (1979 – 2006) 7 FRIDAY 11 APRIL 20086.30 pm (sort of) fun on the run Followed by Q&A with film-maker Igor Cobileanski

SHORTS: BAKHTALO! A car, a taxi, two vans and a motorcycle: (Robert Lakatos, Hungary/Austria, 2004, the world is set in motion. City, town or documentary, colour, 30’; countryside everybody seems to be Romanian/Hungarian with English engaged in some sort of quest, looking for subtitles) (part of omnibus Across the Border, a hotel, a temporary shelter, a parking Austria, 2004) space, an electric cable, and - why not? -a poet willing to lend his talents to a cause Golden Dove, Dok Leipzig 2004; Best European which requires urgent action. Eastern Film and Best Feature-length Documentary, European humour always travelled well, Syracuse 2004 for Across the Border as demonstrated by our light-hearted shorts session. Two zany characters. Two borders. One In the Morning bumpy ride. One Europe. Or two, maybe?

IN THE MORNING / DIMINEATA LIFE’S HARD / LA DRUMUL MARE (Radu Jude, Romania, 2007, fiction, colour, (Gabriel Sirbu, Romania, 2007, fiction, 28’; Romanian with English subtitles) colour, 20’; Romanian with English subtitles) With: Oana Ioachim, Andi Vasluianu, Gabriel Spahiu With: Andi Vasluianu, Claudia Prec, Gabriel Spahiu Two characters, one taxi, a crisis and a compromise. Audience Award and Special Jury Prize, Premiers Plans Film Festival, Angers A rather decent robber and his foxy victim. Life’s Hard

8 INSPIRATION / PLICTIS SI INSPIRATIE (Igor Cobileanski, Moldova, 2007, fiction, colour, 11’; Romanian with English subtitles) With: Valeriu Turcanu, Mihai Curagau, Sergiu Voloc & Lacrimioara the goose “- These trains . They go from East to West, from West to East, day and night, and none of them stops in our village. Why is that?” “-Why should they? You’d want them to take everybody with them?” Inspiration Three characters in search of an author, Moldovan style.

SASHA, GRISHA & ION / SASA, GRISA si ION (Igor Cobileanski, Moldova, 2006, fiction, colour, 11’; Romanian with English subtitles) With: Valentin Cucu, Igor Mitreanu, Sergiu Voloc Three characters in search of an electric cable: Moldova / Cobileanski double bill. Sasha, Grisha & Ion

9 Radu Jude (Austria/Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Igor Cobileanski Hungary, Slovenia, 2004). With his own Born in 1977 and having finished his film biography being a sum of hyphenations Born in the Republic of Moldova, studies in 2003, Radu Jude is already one and re-locations, Lakatos is interested in Cobileanski studied film in Romania and of Romania’s most internationally working on the border between is now living and working in-between awarded directors of short films. His Tube documentary and fiction, and favours a the two countries. His first significant with a Hat, screened in our last year’s performative documentary which works film work (Dying for Madrid, 1998) programme, won a number of awards wonders for audiences worldwide. captured in documentary form the tragic among which was the Best Short Film in story of a Moldovan folk band who, in Sundance 2007. Jude worked as an Lakatos has recently completed a feature- exchange for a dream trip to Madrid, assistant director for Amen by Costa length version of Bakhtalo, in which he agreed to give a series of concerts in Gavras and The Death of Mr Lazarescu takes - or is dragged by - his two charming Chernobyl in 1986, for volunteers working by Cristi Puiu, and is currently in pre- characters in a new adventure far away on the liquidation of the nuclear power production with his first feature film The from their homes in Eastern Europe: this plant. Happiest Girl in the World, for which he time it’s Egypt ... and it might not be the was awarded the Sundance/NHK end of the road. Following on that, Cobileanski started to International Film-maker Award at the forge his own brand of local humour Sundance Film Festival this January. which now makes him a favourite of Romanian audiences and foreign film Gabriel Sirbu festivals. His When the Lights Go Out has been a hit on YouTube. Cobileanski has Robert Lakatos Born in 1970 in Bucharest, Sirbu moved just completed the feature-length black to Israel to study Biology in 1990, merely comedy Tache (2008), currently awaiting Robert Lakatos is a Hungarian ethnic to return to Romania six years later to its theatrical release. based in Romania, who completed his study film. His graduation film, An film studies at the famed Lodz film school Invitation to Lunch, won, among others, in Poland. He shot Bakhtalo as part of an the main award in the short film section international omnibus film originating of the Palm Springs International Film in Austria, as a polyglot portrait of moving Festival in 2001. Sirbu is currently borders in a morphing Europe: Across the teaching film in the National Film School Border: Five Views from Neighbours in Bucharest.

10 Bakhtalo! FRIDAY 11 APRIL 20088.50 pm (sort of) fun on the run Introduced by Adina Bradeanu, film critic/programme curator

THE CRUISE / CROAZIERA

(Mircea Daneliuc, Romania, 1981, fiction, colour, 121’; Romanian with English subtitles)

With: Tora Vasilescu, Nicolae Albani, Paul Lavric, Mircea Daneliuc, Maria Gligor, Adriana Schiopu

Political mobilisation, romance and dead-pan comedy on the river Danube. A group of youngsters are offered a free cruise on the Danube as a reward for talent and work discipline proven in fields ranging from creative writing to ‘work-place maintenance’.

A series of adventures will unfold during the trip, putting in perspective the clash between the youthful spirit of the travellers and the restrictive context created by the organisers and by society in general.

A witty political satire of collapsing authority, The Cruise combines travelogue, love intrigue and political innuendo, to capture the growing gap between the official log-book of the cruise and the actual events occurring on the way. One of the funniest, and yet to be discovered, gems of Eastern European cinema.

12 Today’s ‘New Romanian Cinema’ didn’t grow out of thin air or just from Lucian Pintilie’s overcoat. Mircea Daneliuc, one of the iconic film-makers of the 1970s/1980s, has always been the enfant terrible of Romanian cinema, carrying an anti-establishment aura and a gusto for the spoken language which have been his assets from the very beginning of his career. In the mid-1980s, he gave up his Communist Party membership to avoid the cutting of one of his films (Glissando, 1984) and, for several years, made a living out of knitting cardigans after having fallen out of grace with the political elite. Rumour has it that he even found a way to interweave his signature in the knits - a witty transfer of authorship at a time when he was banned from making films, which was also the mark of his enduring sense of humour, in spite of the crippling reality of Ceausescu’s Romania. In the early 1990s, after the change of political regime in Romania, Daneliuc added to his repertoire of subversive acts a free public premiere of one of his films (Conjugal Bed, 1993) when only 61.5 % of the film was screened – corresponding to the percentage of votes received by the presidential candidate of the time, who was elected with a landslide in spite of having been exposed as a stalwart of Ceausescu’s regime. Daneliuc’s Microphone Test (1980), Cruise (1981) and Jacob (1988) have achieved an iconic status among Romanian audiences but his most recent work failed to score significantly at the box office. Today it is still hard to decide whether Daneliuc is one of those who – in the words of Slovakian writer Slavenka Drakulic - ‘survived communism and even laughed’ or, whether his career could be described more accurately through the joke about the Eastern European intellectual who, when asked how he survived communism, replied : “Did I”? 13 Mircea Daneliuc SATURDAY 12 APRIL 20084.00 pm survival lessons Followed by Q&A with film-makers Adina Pintilie and Marius Olteanu

SHORTS: HOME / ACASA A boxing lesson, a taxi ride, a short fling, (Paul Negoescu, Romania, 2007, fiction, an unexpected visit and a resurrected dog colour, 14’; Romanian with English – each, in its own way, a survival lesson subtitles) collected in the weightier and more reflection-inviting shorts session of our With: Gabriel Spahiu, Marian Ralea, programme. Fresh and gripping, or Monica Mihaescu cameral and contemplative, they all capture significant individual mutations, A taxi ride and a glimpse of how it feels often in an absorbing cinematic language. to return after working abroad.

The Boxing Lesson

THE BOXING LESSON / LECTIA DE BOX THURSDAY / JOI (Alexandru Mavrodineanu, Romania, (Hadrian Marcu, Romania, 2007, fiction, 2007, fiction, colour, 12’; Romanian with colour, 30’; Romanian with English English subtitles) subtitles) With: Bogdan Dumitrache, Vlad Voda, With: Mihaela Pintileasa, Toma Cuzin, Alexandru Manea, Nicolae Modrogan Alina Bezunteanu, Ioana Flora A father books his son a boxing lesson to Life as a desert. A succession of prepare him for life ‘in the real world’. indistinguishable days, and the Thursday that could have made a difference Home

14 SANDPIT #186 / BALASTIERA #186 (Adina Pintilie, Romania, 2006, fiction, b&w, 20’; no dialogues) With: Gabriel Spahiu, Richard Bovnoczki One ordinary day on the outskirts of an industrial city. A deserted sandpit. A secluded inhabitant. A strange visitor. Life will never be the same ever again.

Thursday

Reality Won’t Bite

REALITY WON’T BITE (Marius Olteanu, UK, 2008, fiction, colour, 25’; English language) With: Henry Miller, Tim Plester, Andree Bernard, Iulia Lazar Courtesy of National Film and Television School, UK One show, one man and his dog (well, sort of ).

15 Alexandru Mavrodineanu Hadrian Marcu Adina Pintilie was the first recipient of the STEPdoc mobility grant initiated by Mavrodineanu was born in Bucharest and Hadrian Marcu has studied Law and Film- the Ratiu Foundation in 2006, for a film spent his childhood between Austria, making, and worked as an assistant project that she will start researching in France and Italy. He studied at the director to the feature The Paper Will Be London later this year. Technical Television School in Berlin. Blue (Radu Munteanu, 2005), included in Between 1995 and 2005 he worked in our last year’s programme. various locations around the world as a sound-recordist or camera assistant for various broadcasters, including ARTE, BBC and CNN. Adina Pintilie Marius Olteanu Mavrodineanu returned to Romania in Adina Pintilie has just graduated from A graduate of the National Film School in 2005, to found his own company and to the National Film School in Bucharest. Bucharest, Olteanu relocated to the UK to work as a production assistant for Catalin Her school films - of which Sandpit #186 complete an MA in Fiction Direction at Mitulescu's How I Spent The End of The is one - travelled to many international the National Film and Television School, World (2006). His Boxing Lesson was festivals, from Rio de Janeiro to Beijing where he benefited from the support of selected by a number of international and to Documenta Madrid. the Ratiu Foundation. festivals among which was the elitist New York Film Festival (2007). She has recently received international A keen photographer, Olteanu has acclaim for her medium-length recently had two personal photo documentary Don’t Get me Wrong (2007), exhibitions in Belgium. His interest in Paul Negoescu which premiered in the Film-makers of music, theatricality and the surreal in the Present competitive section of the film is best expressed by Reality Won’t At 24, and having just graduated from Locarno Film Festival. It was selected in Bite, his graduation film, here screened film school, Negoescu is one of the the Best of Fests section of IDFA courtesy of NFTS. youngest voices coming out of Romania. Amsterdam 2007 and won a number of Home was screened at the 2007 edition awards, among which was the Golden of the London Film Festival. His other Dove for Best Documentary in Dok Leipzig recent short, Late (2007), was selected in 2007 and, recently, the Best Woman the short film competition of this year’s Director Award at the International Film Berlinale. Festival of Contemporary Cinema, Mexico.

16 SATURDAY 12 APRIL 20086.15 pm survival lessons

TELEPHONE CALL ABROAD / TELEFON IN STRAINATATE (Hanno Hofer, Romania, 1998, fiction, b&w, 8’; Romanian/English with English subtitles) With: Anton Ionescu Best Director, CILECT- the Association of European Filmschools, Munich 1998 An elderly father tries to call his son in America.

Hanno Hofer Following on his studies of Eastern European History in Berlin in the early 1990s, Hofer returned to Romania to study film. His short feature Humanitarian Aid (2001) was awarded the Canal+ award at the Clermont-Ferrand Shortfilm Festival 2002, the Audience Award at the Mediterranean Film Festival in Montpellier and selected for the Kodak Showcase of the Cannes film festival in same year. Hofer is also a musician, member of two well-known Romanian jazz and blues groups: Nightlosers and Harry Tavitian‘s Orient Express. One of Nighlosers’ latest ventures was a series of concerts with Elvis Rromano, the Rromani impersonator of Elvis Presley who appears in a cameo in Cristian Nemescu’s California Dreamin’ (Endless).

17 OCCIDENT (also known as: WEST - International: English title; informal literal title) (Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2002, fiction, colour, 110’; Romanian/English/Italian with English subtitles) With: Alexandru Papadopol, Dorel Visan, Tania Popa, Anca Androne, Ioan Gyuri Pascu Directors Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2003 ‘What’s got into everybody? Why leave? Is there nothing good left?’, asks an exasperated father in Mungiu’s Occident. There’s a ‘should I stay or should I go’ lurking in the back of the mind of virtually every character in Mungiu’s debut feature. Occident tells, in mosaic mode, three different stories which happen at the same time, interconnect and cross each other, with each story adding a new perspective on the previous one. Mungiu uses humour and lightness of touch to make a comment about early post-communist Romania, a depressing landscape resulting from the collision of the former communist world with the new and flamboyant capitalist offer. A bunch of characters consumed by their longing for the West. A chaotic Romania apparently heading nowhere. A hilarious film about saddening choices.

18 Born in 1968, Cristian Mungiu studied English and American literature before graduating from the National Film School in Bucharest. He worked as an assistant director on some fifteen features from 1994 to 1998, and directed several award-winning shorts, among which were The Hand of Paulista (1998), Zapping (2000) and The Firemen’s Choir (2000). Mungiu was awarded the Palme D’Or in Cannes in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, his gripping story of sacrifice and friendship set in the last years of Ceausescu’s Romania. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is part of a larger project called Tales from the Golden Age, a subjective history of communism in Romania told through its urban legends. Of course, it was with our eyes turned to Mungiu’s Occident that we jokingly invited you, in our press release, to join us in celebrating five years of Romanian Film Festival in London (i.e. a cincinal / five year plan, according to socialist Romania’s frame of mind and vocabulary), by listening to one of the anthems of our youth: The Five Year Plan in Four Years and a Half / Cincinalu’n patru ani si jumatate. (The link is still on the website of the Romanian Cultural Centre, feel free to check on it at www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk). Rolling on Occident’s end-credits is ‘In The Year 2000’, the quintessential anthem of our communist youth, about acceptable socialist dreams and heavily controlled futures: We know what’s to come on the road ahead of us / Thousands of flowers and palaces / Tomorrow we will have. In the year 2000 / When we’re no longer children / All our daring dreams / Will come true. Cristian Mungiu It seems to have worked out for Mungiu (well, maybe not the palaces).

19 SATURDAY 12 APRIL 20088.30 pm survival lessons Introduced by film-maker Bogdan Mustata

A GOOD DAY FOR A SWIM / O ZI BUNA DE PLAJA (Bogdan Mustata, Romania, 2008, fiction, colour, 10’; Romanian with English subtitles) With: Florin Sinescu, Okan Kaya, George Hoffman, Cerasela Iosifescu, Marian Ghenea Golden Bear for Best Short Film, Berlinale 2008 Three juvenile delinquents break out of prison and indulge in a session of gratuitous abuse. A compelling story, sparingly told. “The film raises questions about its issues rather than bring resolution to them. It does so in a very precise and unpredictable way. We feel that it is one of the most precious things when a film stays with you and keeps unravelling long after the final credits have ended.” (Berlinale International Short Film Jury)

Bogdan Mustata Mustata studied Economy and Film in Romania, then worked for several years in TV and advertising in Vietnam and Dubai. In Romania, he directed the short Daniela (2001), which was awarded in Munchen and Karlovy Vary. In Vietnam he directed twelve episodes of the TVseries 12 Degrees of Love, which premiered in domestic cinemas in 2005. Mustata collaborated in a number of shorts in Romania - out of which Alexandru Mavrodineanu’s Boxing Lesson, included in this year’s programme - and wrote the screenplay for the feature length-project A Heart-Shaped Balloon, the current project in development from director Catalin Mitulescu, selected in the Atelier section in Cannes 2007 and awarded the Balkan Fund in Thessaloniki 2006. The teenagers who appear in A Good Day for A Swim are real-life minor offenders who are currently serving time in juvenile detention facilities.

20 COLD WAVES / RAZBOI PE CALEA Alexandru Solomon UNDELOR In the early 1990s, when Solomon emerged (Alexandru Solomon, Romania/Germany as a young director of photography, /Luxembourg, 2007, documentary, colour, documentary film was largely considered 108’; Romanian/English/French with aesthetically and politically bankrupt in English subtitles) Romania, due to its long-term assimilation with the previous propaganda of the state IDFA Amsterdam; Leipzig Dok, Goteborg and socialist party. International Film Festival, London Documentary Film Festival Solomon was among the first Romanian film-makers who committed themselves to In the 1970s and 1980s, Radio Free Europe a then compromised genre; today, almost a reported the abuse suffered by Romanians decade later, he is the leading political film- under the pressure of the communist state maker coming out of Romania and active and Party, and was also a channel through on the international documentary scene. which people could express their discontent with the political status quo. His recent work triggered public debates But to the communist apparatus, the radio about the function of documentary film station was a deadly enemy. within the public sphere and contributed to re-establishing documentary film as an Cold Waves unfolds as a love and hate arena for reframing Romania’s recent story woven around something that one history. Solomon’s previous work, The Great could neither see, nor touch, nor weigh: Communist Bank Robbery (2004), broadcast the radio waves which crossed borders as part of BBC4’s prestigious Storyville series and connected the country’s population and presented last year in our festival, was with what was happening beyond awarded Best Film at the History Film Romania’s sealed-off borders. Festival in Pessac, France, the Prize for Social Values at Documenta Madrid and the Grand ‘Just listen to the voices and you might Prix in Mediawave, Hungary. get a better picture of recent history’, is the credo of film-maker Alexandru Cold Waves is a chilling slice of political Solomon. history from a film-maker on a mission.

21 SUNDAY 13 APRIL 20082.00 pm journeys through thick and thin Followed by Q&A with film-maker Razvan Georgescu

TESTIMONY Razvan Georgescu and programme editor in charge of several “METROPOLIS” cultural (Razvan Georgescu, Germany/Romania, Razvan Georgescu is a Romanian film- programmes per year on ARTE, on behalf 2008, documentary, colour, 90’; maker based in Germany and working of ZDF. English/German/Romanian with English internationally. subtitles) Born in Romania in 1965 (the year when Georgescu collaborated with Romanian Diagnosed with a brain tumour and given Nicolae Ceausescu took power), he left film-maker Florin Iepan on the three more years to live, film-maker Timisoara to reunite with his family in internationally acclaimed documentary Razvan Georgescu decides to overcome Germany on the 23rd of December 1989 Children of the Decree / Decreteii (Silver the solemnity of the issue and explore (the day in which Ceausescu was Wolf competition, IDFA Amsterdam 2004, the realm between life and death by captured and Romania’s fate started to Margaret Mead Film Festival, Audience meeting some of its prominent change). He took the last train from Award and Special Jury Mention inhabitants: famous artists who have had Timisoara before Romania’s border was ZAGREBDOX 2004) and recently co- a traumatic brush with mortality and sealed-off due to the political turmoil. produced Bela Lugosi, The Fallen were given a limited amount of time to Today, he still remembers vividly the Vampire / Bela Lugosi. Vampirul cazut live. hours when his train to freedom was (Florin Iepan, 2007), a biography of the suspended in between two worlds, Eastern European actor whose name How does creativity change when death stationed in the no man’s land between remains associated with the cinematic is near? What counts when you must go? Romania and Hungary. representation of Dracula. The inspiring story of one’s journey on Georgescu studied Literature at the Testimony is the first venture from the border between life and death, and a University of Bucharest and worked as a Georgescu’s newly-founded company testament to the resilience of the human director and producer of several Pelegrin Film, with involvement from spirit. Intimate, visceral film-making as documentaries for ARTE and ZDF in ARTE-ZDF (Germany), YLE (Finland), TVR a both chilling and enlightening work- Germany. He has been Creative Director (Romania) and Romania’s National in-progress: just like life itself. and Head of Development at Westend Centre of Cinematography (CNC). Film & TV Frankfurt am Main for six years

22 Testimony SUNDAY 13 APRIL 20084.10 pm journeys through thick and thin Introduced by Adina Bradeanu, film critic/programme curator

STORY Dana Ranga For Dana Ranga, space is linked to poetry and everyday life, rather than to science. (Dana Ranga, Germany, 2003, Berlin-based Dana Ranga describes Like any uprooted artist, she is herself a documentary, colour, 87’; English herself as a poet who sometimes likes to sort of astronaut suspended in between language) use film language. She has published her birth-place and her adoptive home. poetry in literary magazines in the US, Her films Story and Cosmonaut Polyakov Special Mention for Innovating Germany, Switzerland, Romania and (Germany, 2007, 110’), both about Documentary Film Language, Marseille elsewhere. astronauts as ‘exiles on earth’, might be 2003 inscriptions of her own dislocation. We Youth Jury Award, Leipzig 2003 Her book object Calendar 1996 was don’t get to see a single rocket in Story – Gold Remi Award, Houston 2004 bought by the Museum of Modern Art, this is space travel beyond planting flags New York. Her films were screened in and collecting rocks, a film portrait, a “I’m a space person”, says Story Musgrave, major documentary festivals and philosophical reflection, and a one of the most versatile NASA broadcast internationally, included in mesmerizing piece of cinema. astronauts, also known as ‘Dr. Details’. thematic programmes in art museums Before he became an astronaut, Story was and presented as part of dance shows. A a mathematician, a chemist, a trauma fragment of Story was even broadcast surgeon and a pilot, an experimental deep into space as part of a ‘space’ theme- parachutist and a poet. He had the longest day run by French-German channel ARTE. career as an astronaut worldwide and “ You’ve never seen flew into space more often than anyone Born in Bucharest on Astronaut Street ‘space’ so well evoked else: six times. (Strada Cosmonautilor), Dana Ranga grew and perhaps not solitude up with space. As a child, she spent What made this man start out on such a holidays at her granny’s in the either. ” journey? What fuelled his strength, his countryside, and played with her curiosity, his drive? What did he look for favourite sheep Laika. And when she in space and what did he find out there? encountered poetry for the first time, she A genuine traveller speaks up about the fell in love with a classic of Romanian way in which space can change a human poetry: Mihai Eminescu’s “Evening Star”, being - a personal account of cosmic a poem about a prince descending on a Vancouver International Film storms of feeling and adventures of ray of light to meet his beloved on Earth. Festival perception. “Space is a be not a do”.

24 Story SUNDAY 13 APRIL 20086.10 pm journeys through thick and thin Followed by Q&A

THE ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN AT THE STATION (Bogdan Apetri, USA, 2006, fiction, colour, 4’; Chinese Mandarin with English subtitles) With: Xu Ke Cine Rail International Film Festival - Paris, France Washington DC Underground Film Festival A short take on what allegedly was the beginning of cinema - The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, the first film by the Lumiere Brothers. This time the train arrives in New York and the film-maker plays with the expectations of an audience which is 100 years older and hopefully more film-literate than the one of the original film

Bogdan Apetri Bogdan Apetri studied Law in Romania, then Filmmaking and Photography at Columbia University. Currently based in New York, he works between Romania and the United States. His filmography includes Crossing (2003), awarded in Morbegno, Italy, A Very Small Trilogy of Loneliness (2006) and The Last Day of December (2006, Jury Prize, Brooklyn Film Festival). The Arrival of the Train was shot in New York as part of Apetri’s curriculum at Columbia.

26 THE REST IS SILENCE / RESTUL E TACERE son is about to make the greatest mistake of all by committing himself to the very (Nae Caranfil, Romania, 2007, fiction, activity considered a sin by his father - colour, 140’; Romanian/French with Grig will direct a movie! English subtitles) And not any movie, but the greatest - and With: Marius Florea Vizante, Ovidiu longest - of them all, which will be the Niculescu, Mirela Zeta, Ioana Bulca, Florin accurate retelling of the war against the Zamfirescu, Nicu Mihoc, Gruia Sandu, Turks in which Romania gained its Valentin Popescu, Patru Gavril, Vlad independence. Zamfirescu, Samuel Tastet, Alexandru Hasnas. A romantic ‘dramedy’, mixing truth an fiction, about the making of Romania’s Official selection, Locarno International first feature film (The War of Film Festival 2007 Independence, Grigore Brezianu, 1912) and about the passion and madness We are in 1911. We have hardly passed over required by film-making. A hilarious the first moment of panic, created by that period-piece of widescreen entertainment terrible steam engine which seemed to and a mesmerizing score by French crush everybody. There are magicians composer Laurent Couson. around: they catch pictures and make them move on the walls. ‘The 7th Art’ is still to be invented. But the audience is already there, in the dark “ an intelligent 19 year old Grig is the son of one of the crowd-pleaser made stars of the National Theatre. His own with affection for its achievements are, however, somehow characters and era” disappointing

Too short to be on stage, too shy with Variety women, too excessive in his lifestyle, the

27 Nae Caranfil Eastern European cinemas have always obsessed a bit about ‘generations’ So, here comes Nae Caranfil, who makes a generation all by himself. Caranfil emerged as a film-maker in Romania of the 1980s and, as life and film-making didn’t seem much fun at the time, he decided to spend some time in France, right at the moment when communism started collapsing in his native country. In the wake of the political changes of the 1990s, Caranfil returned home and, after several years, even managed to shoot his debut feature. E Pericoloso Sporgersi / Don’t Lean Out of the Window, a story about communist Romania as a restrictive ‘home’ and about one woman’s longing to ‘lean out’ towards a promising elsewhere, was shown in the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes 1993 and is now an important chapter of domestic film history. One decade and several films later, when the New Romanian Cinema emerged in the 2000s, Caranfil was cast as the quintessential ‘transitional’ film-maker, who provided a connection between the politically controlled and aesthetically bankrupt cinema of the 1980s, and the fresh, gripping and (said) minimalist works of the likes of Puiu, Porumboiu, Mungiu. But if Romania itself has never been happy with its labelling as a ‘transitional’ country, why would Caranfil be content as Romania’s ‘transitional film-maker’? Too young to be a ‘precursor’ (of New Romanian Cinema) and too gifted to be just a ‘link’ between generations which are actually worlds apart (the 1980s vs. the 2000s), Caranfil can inspire an auteurist nostalgia - he writes, directs and composes music - but remains the Romanian film- maker who knows best how to please his audiences.

28 The Rest is Silence STEPdoc

In the opening of the 4th Romanian Film Festival in London The first two STEPdoc recipients are Adina Pintilie and Corina (April 2007), the Ratiu Foundation announced the launch of its Radu. new programme, STEPdoc. The programme aims to improve the ‘minor’ status attached to documentary practice in Romania, In both cases, the board was impressed both by the film-makers’ and to reinvest documentary film with both a public function recently completed documentaries (Don’t Get Me Wrong by and with potential for aesthetic innovation. Adina Pintilie, and Bar de Zi and Other Stories by Corina Radu), and by their projects in development: namely, a project on STEPdoc consists of two mobility grants per year (worth £1,500 metropolitan loneliness by Adina Pintilie, and respectively a each) which will allow two Romanian film makers, at an early biographical documentary on Queen Mary of Romania by Corina stage of their career, one month of immersion in the UK Radu. documentary culture, towards the development of a documentary project with international potential. The two film-makers will decide on the best time to make use of their STEPdoc grants. We are hap py to see that Adina Pintilie The mobility grant is to be used for the individual research of a was re-confirmed as a documentary film talent through the specific project set in the UK and / or for networking with a UK- Golden Dove recently awarded by the International Documentary based company in view of the development of a common film Festival in Leipzig (29 October - 4 November) and the Best Woman project. On a broader level, STEPdoc would provide an Director Award at the International Film Festival of opportunity to gain inspiration and to take part in the vibrant Contemporary Cinema, Mexico. British documentary culture. The new funding session for STEPdoc will start in May 2008, The first round of applications for STEPdoc was open between with applications being accepted until 1 September 2008. May and October 2007. The applications received were considered by the Foundation, advised by film journalist and documentary For information about STEPdoc 2008 send an e-mail to film expert Adina Bradeanu. The Foundation decided to support [email protected] two applicants with one mobility grant each, which are to be or go to used at any time between November 2007 and November 2008. www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com

29 THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL CENTRE (RCC) IN LONDON CURZON MEMBERSHIP The Romanian Cultural Centre in London is an independent, Discounted admission for you and a guest at all times (two non-governmental organisation promoting Romanian culture guests for joint membership), two free tickets on joining (four in the UK. for joint membership) exclusive free members’ previews (applies to cardholder only), priority booking on selected The RCC was established in 1994 by a group of London-based events (up to three days) Curzon magazine delivered to your Romanians. It maintains connections within the Romanian door, DVD when you renew, and discounted renewal price. community in Britain, facilitates cultural exchanges between the UK and Romania, and maintains an information and data Price: £40 Single / £70 Joint / £30 Concessionary (Retired, base service. registered disabled, unwaged and full time student. Only available in person with proof of status.) For more information about our work, as well as for a listing of Romanian events happening in the UK, please visit our Purchase Membership website at www.romanianculturalcentre.org.uk If you wish to purchase a membership please download the application form from THE RATIU FOUNDATION www.curzoncinemas.com/membership The Ratiu Foundation was established in London, in 1979, by Ion This can then be taken into any of the five venues (Curzon and Elisabeth Ratiu, to promote and support projects which further Soho, Curzon Mayfair, Richmond Filmhouse, Chelsea Cinema education and research in the culture and history of Romania. or Renoir Cinema). The Ratiu Scholarships are awarded to Romanian students to Your application will be processed within 7 days if received study a wide range of subjects in the UK (MA and PhD degrees, by post or email – or if it’s taken in by hand during box office short-term courses, research, etc). They enable talented graduates hours from 10am to 8pm it will be processed on the spot. and young professionals to become familiar with the UK and gain skills, which they can adapt and apply in Romania. Post: Ion Ratiu (6 June 1917 - 17 January 2000), distinguished Romanian Lizzy Whirrity diplomat, entrepreneur, publisher, writer and humanitarian, was Curzon Cinemas an outspoken critic of the communist regime in Romania during 20-22 Stukeley Street the 1947-1989 period. He devoted his life to the fight for democracy London WC2B 5LR in Romania and its integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures. Email: [email protected] More details on www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com

30 The Romanian Film Festival is organised by The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London in collaboration with The National Centre of Cinematography in Bucharest (CNC) , The Embassy of Romania in the UK and Curzon Cinemas.

Embassy of Romania in the UK

With the kind support of: Bianca Mina, Liviu Antonesei, Cristian Topan, Artificial Eye, RH Printing Radu Jude, Robert Lakatos, Gabriel Sirbu, Igor Cobileanski, Mircea Daneliuc, Alexandru Mavrodineanu, Paul Negoescu, Home & Away Team 2008: Hadrian Marcu, Adina Pintilie / George Chiper, Marius Ramona Mitrica - Director, Romanian Cultural Centre Olteanu, Hanno Hofer, Cristian Mungiu, Bogdan Mustata, Adina Bradeanu - Programme Curator Alexandru Solomon, Razvan Georgescu, Dana Ranga, Bogdan Mihai Risnoveanu & Tudor Prisacariu - Design Apetri, Nae Caranfil, Razvan Vasilescu, Andrei Boncea, Raluca Soare, Anne Wendelin, David Tanner, Joyce Nettles, Nicoleta Brochure editing: Ramona Mitrica, Adina Bradeanu & Mihai & Adrian Cherciu, Zoe & Costel Tasente, Inno Brezeanu, Dan Risnoveanu Florescu, Nansi O’Connor, Iosefin Florea, Serban Cantacuzino, Brochure design, typesetting & e-mail: Mihai Risnoveanu David Parkinson, Lindsay Mackie, Ion Martea, Cristina Proof reading: Mike Phillips Tiberian, Bill McAlister, Melanie Crawley, Sylvia Stevens, Photos: MediaPro Pictures, Artificial Eye, Mobra Films, Alexandru Adam, Dan Mitrica, Laura Lazar, Eugen Androne, Razvan Georgescu, Marian Hanciarec, Robert Lakatos, Ioana Draghici, Simona Deliu, Violeta Niculae Bogdan Mustata, Marius Olteanu, Dana Ranga Web site, poster & leaflet design: Tudor Prisacariu Friends of the Festival: Nicolae Ratiu, Sir Richard Eyre, Dr Mike Phillips, HE Dr Ion Special thanks to: Jinga, Eugen Serbanescu, Alina Salcudeanu, Verena Aviva Grup Romania, Endava, The Romanian Ministry of Stackleberg, Zena Howard Foreign Affairs, Anca Babes, Monica Radley, Cristina Pantiru, Laurentiu Garofeanu, Owen Armstrong, Nadia Attia, Louisa Dent, Sean Elstob, Zena Howard, Simon Howarth, Caroline Media partners: Jones, Sean Keatley, Rob Kenny, Karolina Kus, Alistair Leach, Romani Online UK (www.romani-online.co.uk), Diaspora Richard Napper, Julie Nartey, Michael Pierce, Verena Romaneasca newspaper, Wallflower Press Stackelberg, Alex Vrettos, Joana Schmitzer, Keith Griffiths, Anne-Marie Martin, British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Yoram Allon, Eleanor McKeown, Dr Mihai Delcea,