Recent Trends in Romanian Cinema
In Romanian cinema, the times are changing again. The first and arguably the most significant sign of change was Cristi Puiu's third feature, Aurora. Five years ago, the man who practically invented the New Romanian Cinema challenged the rules of the realistic model, sometimes labelled as "minimalist", which he himself had introduced and imposed. After a couple more years, Adrian Sitaru's third feature, Domestic, came as a breath of fresh air, in terms of narrative and visual approach. Even today, Romanian filmmakers, such as the debut helmer Andrei Cohn (Back Home), are trying to deal with the "minimalist" formula by bringing their own contributions, for example to the (in)famous long take. However, no later than 2007, Nae Caranfil's fifth feature, the period epic The Rest Is Silence, proposed a "maximalist" approach, as local critics called it. While genre cinema is still disregarded by many Romanian filmmakers, a few directors are tackling the psychological and political thriller, as well as the spy movie, with stories either placed in the last period of Ceauşescu's regime (The Escape, Andrei Gruzsniczki's second feature), or spanning over three communist and post-communist decades (The Chosen One, the second film directed by Cristian Comeagă, the producer of Nae Caranfil's demanding The Rest Is Silence). Last but not least, as the selection would have seemed incomplete without a remarkable documentary, we included in the program Cabal in Kabul, a film shot in Afghanistan by the Romanian director Dan Alexe.
Mihai Fulger
PROGRAM:
„Back Home”, dir. Andrei Cohn (2015, 91 min.)
Cast: Alexandru Papadopol, Ioana Flora, Andi Vasluianu
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364242/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfSVedoOKjE
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/back-home-acasa-la-tata-821092
Synopsis: Robert is a young writer passing through a difficult time in his life. He decides to return home into his native village for the first time since his mother passed away three years ago. In more than 10 years, he paid only few visits to his parents and this fact is reflected by the distant relationship Robert has with his father. As it happens, he meets two former classmates: Petrica - his old best friend, now married with children and Paula- his teenage sweetheart. She is divorced after an unhappy marriage and is now working at a local store. She doesn’t seem to be engaged in a relationship…
„Aurora”, dir. Cristi Puiu (2010, 181 min.)
Cast: Cristi Puiu, Catrinel Dumitrescu, Clara Vodă
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403047/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXrSA9i9eg
Synopsis: An apartment kitchen: a man and a woman discuss Little Red Riding Hood, their voices hushed, mindful of waking the little girl sleeping next room. Waste land on the city outskirts: behind a line of abandoned trailers, the man silently watches what seems to be a family. The same city, the same man: driving through traffic with two hand-made firing pins for a hunting rifle. The man is 42 years old, his name - Viorel. Troubled by obscure thoughts, he drives across the city to a destination known only to him.
„Cabal in Kabul” (2007, 86 min.) - documentary film by Dan Alexe
Cast: Isaac Lévy, Zabulon Simantov
https://cabalinkabul.wordpress.com/
http://www.cinemamontreal.com/movies/cabal-in-kabul-2007
"With his documentary Cabal in Kabul, filmmaker Dan Alexe provides a character study of two highly anomalous, colorful individuals. Isaac and Zebulon are the last two Jews living in the Islamic Afghan Republic, amid millions of impassioned Muslim neighbors. "
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/423541/Cabal-in-Kabul/overview
„The Chosen One”, dir. Cristian Comeagă (2015, 125 min.)
Cast: Olimpia Melinte, Nicodim Ungureanu, Bogdan Stanoevici, Laura Cosoi, Mohamed Jbara
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3658010/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzumcOLOuEY
Synopsis: In the early '80s, while he was a student, Mr. X was helped to flee Romania by those who where meant to keep him in.Years later, they asked him to pay back the favor. He complied unwillingly and his reluctance cost him dearly: they declared him dead, while he had to leave France, giving up his identity,his family, his whole life.He thought he had lost everything; he has recently found there is even more to lose. 'This will not happen', says Mr. X to himself while driving across a country that is no longer his, in search for a way out of the maze that he entered thirty years ago.
„Domestic”, dir. Adrian Sitaru (2012, 85 min.)
Cast: Adrian Titieni, Gheorghe Ifrim, Sergiu Costache, Clara Vodă, Ioana Flora, Dan-Cristian Hurduc, Ariadna Titieni
http://www.domesticthemovie.ro/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527190/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sog9bvuYZHI
Synopsis: Wonderfully surreal, painfully real, this is the story of children, adults and animals who live together trying to have a better life, but sometimes death comes unexpectedly. The lives of three characters surrounded by a bunch of extraordinary, funny, absurd but quite realistic events. It is all about us, people who eat the animals that they love and the animals that love people unconditionally.
„The Rest Is Silence”, dir. Nae Caranfil (2007, 117 min.)
Cast: Ovidiu Niculescu, Marius Florea Vizante
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0839967/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaGRpaoaM3U
Synopsis: In 1911-12, the Romanian movie director Grigore Brezianu and the financial tycoon Leon Popescu made together the 2 hours long movie "Romania's Independence" - an as faithful as possible screen adaptation of the real Independence War that had been fought in 1877. Now, "Restul e tacere" tells us, in a loose and half-fictionalized way, the story of this movie making.
„The Escape”, dir. Andrei Gruzsniczki (2013)
Cast: Sorin Leoveanu, Ofelia Popii, Florin Piersic Jr.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2463808/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1a
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teOAwwjXlas
Synopsis: 1984. A mathematician's decision to publish a paper in a magazine edited by an American University without asking for permission from the communist authorities triggers a chain of events that will change the lives of his friends. After all, there is no such thing as decisions without consequences...
The Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv proudly supports the Romanian film week in Israel in partnership with the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, in collaboration with Jerusalem Cinematheque, Haifa Cinematheque, The National Center for Cinema (Romania) and the National Film Archive (Romania). Special thanks to 4prooffilms, Domino Film, Icon Film, Alon Garbuz, Mandragora Movies, Dan Alexe, Nae Caranfil, Cristian Comeagă, Mihai Fulger, Serge Kestemont, Irena Isbășescu, Velvet Moraru, Raluca Păduraru, Anita Peri Sela, Anca Puiu, Pini Schatz.
