RSS feed After not a single Romanian film was produced in 2000, young directors took the hearts of international cinephiles with a storm a year later, marking the beginning of Romania’s infamous “New Wave”.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, we are taking a retrospective look at the work of one of the biggest inspirations for young filmmakers, Lucian Pintilie: en par with France’s Godard or Sweden’s Bergman, who has chosen three of his own films especially for Cambridge Film Festival.
In addition, actress Anamaria Marinca (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS) is showing three of her most favourite “New Wave” films and will be attending the festival for a public talk. In order to fast forward and give a glimpse of what you should watch out for, we are also presenting a short film programme full of promising new directors.
The lineup also includes three films by director Lucian Pintilie, who started with SUNDAY AT SIX in 1965 and “came to embody Romanian cinema almost by himself, before a young generation – which he helped hatch – started drawing the attention of the world” (Michel Clement).
THE OAK
Romania, 1992, 105 mins
Wednesday 21 September, 15:00 and Sunday 25 September, 10.15 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
THE OAK was made after a 20 year ban, in which Pintilie was not allowed to make films. In 1989, having just lost her father, Nela decides to go and teach in a small provincial town. There she meets Mitica, a doctor at the hospital who, like her, no longer believes in either God or man, and who shares her salutary humour. But the couple stirs up bad feelings.
AFTERNOON OF A TORTURER
Romania, 2001, 80 mins
Thursday 22 September, 12:45 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
“This was the first time I tried to make a film with the ambition of triggering a moral electroshock. (…) THE AFTERNOON OF A TORTURER is a film about the total incapacity of Romanians to confess and repent.” – Lucian Pintilie
In Romania, Frant Tandara, a former torturer in the prisons of the Communist regime, is ready to confess his crimes to a journalist and former political prisoner.
NIKI AND FLO Romania, 2003, 99 mins
Saturday 24 September, 15:15 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
“NIKI AND FLO is a very dear film of mine. Maybe because it’s my last film, in every way, or maybe, who knows, my first film in a different kind of accounting?” – Lucian Pintilie
Angela and her husband have decided to leave Romania for a life in the United States. Niki, Angela’s father, is torn between his wish to see his daughter happy and his desire to have her close by. Meanwhile, Flo, the father of Niki’s son-in-law and a kind of domestic tyrant, slowly exerts control over Niki. The script was written by Cristi Puiu (STUFF AND DOUGH, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU).
Three Films Selected by actress ANAMARIA MARINCA
Before her breathtaking performance in 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS (2008) Anamaria Marinca played roles in SEX TRAFFIC (2004) and YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (2007). She has since performed on the London stage, at the Young Vic and National Theatre, and has appeared in BOOGIE, THE COUNTESS, STORM, FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN and many more.
STUFF AND DOUGH Romania, 2001, 91 mins
Thursday 22 September, 18:00 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
STUFF AND DOUGH follows a young man who is given a suspiciously large amount of money and only four hours to deliver a bag of “medical goods”. Directed by Cristi Puiu (who went on to make the internationally acclaimed THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU), it marked the beginning of the New Wave and an exciting decade of cinematic goods.
THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE Romania, 2006, 95 mins
Friday 23 September, 13:30 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
Set during the confusing night of 22 December 1989, when Ceausescu was about to fall after decades of harsh dictatorship. The original inspiration for the film was a tragic incident that received considerable media attention, in which two armoured squads of Interior Ministry troops who went to protect a military unit were accidentally butchered. Director Radu Muntean (BOOGIE, TUESDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS) creates a highly unusual, personal view of those days.
OCCIDENT Romania, 2002, 99 mins
Friday 23 September, 20:30 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
A rare chance to see the debut feature by Cristian Mungiu (who made the groundbreaking 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS starring Anamaria Marinca), which premiered in Cannes in 2002. This tragicomedy is set in post-Ceausescu Romania, where the destinies of several people cross – a couple going through a crisis, a young woman seeking a husband in Italy and a police officer on the verge of retirement.
ROMANIAN NEW WAVE SHORTS
Saturday 24 September, 18:00 @ Arts Picturehouse Cambridge
• STRUNG LOVE by Victor Dragomir
May 1984. Viorel – a nerd from the smithing class of a communist industrial high-school – enters a rivet-production contest hoping to win the attention and affection of Ileana – a schoolmate from the sewing class.
• MUSIC IN THE BLOOD by Alexandru Mavrodineanu
Petre is convinced that his son is very gifted, but the Gipsy music business is very tough.
• THE COUNTING DEVICE by Daniel Sandu
Mircea, a long-time employee of the National Company of Motorways and National Roads, brings along his nephew George, an educated but jobless young man, in order to introduce him to his boss in the hopes of getting him a job at the same company.
• STOPOVER by Ioana Uricaru
Ingrid, a beautiful and cosmopolitan Romanian woman, is travelling by plane returning to her home in Oslo. During a short layover at the Malpensa airport in Milan, she realizes her wallet is gone.
• OXYGEN by Adina Pintilie
Some time during the communist dictatorship in Romania, a man tries to cross the Danube illegally using an oxygen cylinder.
The Romanian programme in the Cambridge Film Festival was made possible with the assistance of The Ratiu Foundation and the Romanian Cultural Centre, London as well as the Romanian Film Centre, Bucharest with the support of Alina Salcudeadu and Mihai Chirilov.
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