Romania 1961, 72 min, no dialogue. Director Ion Popescu-Gopo | Screenplay Ion Popescu-Gopo | Camera Stefan Horvath | Music Dumitru Capoianu | Production Filmstudio Bucuresti Cast: Iurie Darie, Emil Botta, Haralambie Boros, Ovid Teodorescu, Geo Saizescu, Tudorel Popa, Eugenia Balaure, Cella Dima et al.
The Romanian Cultural Institute is delighted to present the fantastic spy comedy A Bomb Was Stolen (1961) by award-winning director Ion Popescu-Gopo at the Opening Night of The Celluloid Curtain Festival.
Fifty years after the construction of the Berlin Wall, The Celluloid Curtain film series (6 - 9 May) presents a cinematographic perspective of the Cold War period. Eleven films from various European countries situated both sides of the Wall portray different interpretations of the political and social climate at a time when Europe was divided. Filmmakers from countries such as England, France, Spain, the FRG, the GDR, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary tackle the theme in different ways, thus offering up fascinating insights. The films selected for The Celluloid Curtain are deliberately outside the usual canon, instead, popular and entertaining productions that are normally excluded from the history of film have been chosen. Download here the programme booklet. (PDF file, 1.8MB)
A Bomb Was Stolen (S-a furat o bomba) is a superb comedy for whatever mood. Romanian director Ion Popescu-Gopo, a well-known graphic artist and animation filmmaker, anticipated the height of East-West paranoia in this feature, made in 1961, the year the Wall was built. The film, a farce with occasional slapstick elements, is entirely without dialogue; its innocent Hitchcockian anti-hero embodies the impotence of officialdom and the all-pervading fear of the bomb - an allegory of the faceless key to power. Humour and comedy know no borders: Jacques Tati, Charlie Chaplin et al are alluded to and allow for comment in a sharply ironic tone on spying, mistrust and the world's paranoia about the bomb.
Curated by Oliver Baumgarten and Nikolaj Nikitin, the festival will be accompanied by distinguished international panels and introductions to the films. The programme also includes a fascinating exhibition of the original spy film posters and graphics from the period, called KISS KISS KILL KILL, open at the Riverside Studios between 2 - 9 May 2011.
After London, from 1 to 22 June The Celluloid Curtain will be presented in Berlin at the Zeughauskino.
The project is initiated by the Goethe Institut in partnership with Riverside Studios, EUNIC London and Berlin, with support from the European Commission in the UK. Media partner: Index on Censorship.
When: Friday 6 May, 6.45pm;
Where: Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London W6 9RL
Box Office: 020 82371111 | online@riversidestudios.co.uk.
Ticket Prices: Screenings £8.50 (£7.50 concs); Panel Discussion £8.50 (£7.50 concs); Unlimited Season Ticket: £30 (£27 concs) - available only from Box Office in person or by phone. Exhibition free.
