With a handful of productions applauded at the biggest film festivals throughout the year, Romanian cinema is still going strong. With four of these impressive premieres in the programme - Bogdan Mirică's 'Dogs', Radu Jude's 'Scarred Hearts', Cristian Mungiu's 'Graduation' and Cristi Puiu's 'Sieranevada' - Romanian films almost make an unofficial section at Leeds International Film Festival.
If you happen to be in the Yorkshire capital, don't miss them!
'Dogs', directed by Bogdan Mirică - UK premiere
Part psycho-thriller, part Balkan Western, 'Dogs' is a macabre and moodily stylised debut by Romanian filmmaker Bogdan Mirică. Roman returns to the land near the Ukrainian border he has inherited from his grandfather. Intending to sell this vast but desolate property, he is warned by the local cop that his grandfather was a local crime lord and his men will not let go of the land without a fight. Mirică makes good use of the vast open spaces to create a brooding atmosphere in his tourniquet-like narrative. (Leeds International Film Festival)
Mon 7 Nov 2016, 18:15 @ Vue at The LightWed 9 Nov 2016, 20:15 @ Vue at The Light
More details and tickets: www.leedsfilm.com/films/dogs/
'Graduation', directed by Cristian Mungiu
Cristian Mungiu returns with a powerful father-daughter character study, satirising the restrictive bureaucracy and corruption of contemporary Romania. Romeo is a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, and has planned for his daughter Eliza to study and live abroad when she turns 18. She has won a scholarship and just has to pass her final exams but is assaulted in an attack the day before they begin. Romeo is faced with a series of impossible ethical quandaries as he tries to secure her future. (Leeds International Film Festival)
Sun 13 Nov 2016, 14:30 @ Vue at The LightMon 14 Nov 2016, 20:00 @ Vue at The LightWed 16 Nov 2016, 18:00 @ Vue at The Light
More details and tickets: www.leedsfilm.com/films/graduation/
'Scarred Hearts', directed by Radu Jude
A loose adaptation of the writings of the woefully under-appreciated Romanian author Max Blecher, 'Scarred Hearts' tells the story of Emmanuel: a young man being treated for bone tuberculosis in a sanatorium on the Black Sea in the late 1930s. With the pitch black humour and magisterial cinematography we have come to expect from Radu Jude, the film immerses us in a world which is equal parts excruciating pain and hysterical laughter, whilst also taking a haunting sideways glance at the rise of the Iron Guard. (Leeds International Film Festival)
Sun 13 Nov 2016, 20:00 @ Vue at The LightThu 17 Nov 2016, 15:00 @ Vue at The Light
More details and tickets: www.leedsfilm.com/films/scarred-hearts/
'Sieranevada', directed by Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu takes the dysfunctional family drama to an intense new cinematic high in his latest feature, 'Sieranevada'. Set almost entirely in a four-roomed Bucharest apartment during an incendiary family get together, the camera swings from room to room as parallel conflicts spiral out of control. Neurologist Lary and his wife, attend a family meal to commemorate his father's death. The guests wait for the priest's arrival but start arguing about 9/11. Politics segues into family history and the arrival of an uninvited guest throws the commemoration into turmoil. (Leeds International Film Festival)
Tue 8 Nov 2016, 19:30 @ Hyde Park Picture HouseThu 10 Nov 2016, 13:00 @ Hyde Park Picture House
More details and tickets: www.leedsfilm.com/films/sieranevada/
The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is the largest film festival in England outside London and one of UK's biggest film events. Founded in 1987, Leeds International Film Festival is renowned as a dynamic festival with a reputation for challenging and innovative programming. Last year LIFF presented a huge variety of exceptional films at over 300 screenings and connected events at 16 venues over 15 days.
