Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema 2012
For the seventh time, a Romanian film season in NYC, featuring an inventive selection of the most compelling recent Romanian productions (feature, documentary and short films), lead by Cristian Mungiu’s highly anticipated new feature Beyond the Hills (this year’s official Romanian submission to the Oscars) and Tudor Giurgiu’s social comedy Of Snails and Men. In addition, this year’s program includes a three-film retrospective of cult filmmaker Alexandru Tatos and the anniversary screening of the 1970s classic Stone Wedding. Plus special programs and panels, including a series of conversations on the recent political shifts affecting the arts and culture in Central and Eastern Europe.
Lineup
Of Snails and Men
Opening Night! Director Tudor Giurgiu and actors Monica Bîrlădeanu and Andi Vasluianu in person!
A group of desperate workers come up with a crazy idea in order to save their factory from bankruptcy. This Full Monty-like bittersweet comedy is based on a real story from the 90s, at the exact time when the King of Pop visited Romania.
Beyond the Hills
Closing Night! Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan in person!
Inspired by a real case of exorcism, Cristian Mungiu's new film is an all too believable portrait of dogma at odds with personal liberty in a society still emerging from the shadow of Communism. A NYFF selection, multiple prizewinner in Cannes, and Romania's official 2012 Oscar submission.
Best Intentions
New York Premiere! Producer Ada Solomon in person!
In this expertly choreographed film, the life of a young man (Bogdan Dumitrache, winner of Best Actor at the 2011 Locarno Film Festival) is turned upside down when his mother suffers a stroke and gets hospitalized. But everybody's best intentions are far from reassuring.
Crulic: The Path to Beyond
A dead man recalls the story of a Kafkaesque miscarriage of justice that sent him to jail for a crime he didn't commit, in this strange and strikingly animated documentary based on a real tragedy.
A Dream’s Merchant
Free screening! North American Premiere!
Constructed almost entirely from still photos masterfully synchronized with audio commentaries, this challenging doc tells the story of an adventurous one-man motorcycle expedition that spans over 21, 000 kilometers and 14 countries.
8th of March
Free screening! North American Premiere!
Chaplin’s Modern Times is reinvented in post-communist Romania, focusing on one working day in the lives of several women, in a haunting and troubling account that makes you do anything but laugh.
Everybody in Our Family
New York Premiere! Producer Ada Solomon in person!
What starts as a slice of life becomes a dark tragicomedy about family dynamics when a small incident between two divorced parents takes on gigantic and almost cartoonish proportions.
A Film for Friends
North American premiere! Screening with Hello Kitty!
A disillusioned man is filming his farewell letter before committing suicide. Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy and twisted ride.
Somewhere in Palilula
Producer Tudor Giurgiu in person!
Possibly the most unusual offering of this year's feature selection, this flamboyant cross between Fellini and Peter Greenaway is the debut film of one of the most famous Romanian stage directors.
Stone Wedding
40th anniversary screening! New 35mm print!
Celebrating 40 years since its release, this cult classic is comprised of two separate stories of different mode, set in the same small town, both with a wedding reference as a central point and the timeless quality of old and tragic folktales.
Teodora Sinner
North American Premiere!
Everyday routine and the most ardent of prayers coexist to draw a vibrant portrayal of life in a convent, seen through the beautiful eyes of a woman preparing for her upcoming marriage with God.
Three Days Till Christmas
North American Premiere! Director Radu Gabrea and actress Victoria Cocias in person!
An unusual companion to Andrei Ujică's The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Gabrea's docudrama is an intriguing mix of true fiction and false reality, perfectly in tune with the ambiguities of the Romanian Revolution.
Turn off the Lights
Free screening!
One of the deepest insight into the Romanian crime landscape to date, this doc produced by Cătălin Mitulescu (Loverboy) follows the destinies of three men from the day they are released from prison through the beginnings of their new lives
New Romanian Shorts 2012
Free Screening! Tickets are not required for admission into the theater for these programs. Seating will be first come, first serve on a space-available basis. Director Tudor Giurgiu in person for November 30 screening!
The best of the newest short films include, among others, the hilarious 3-minute animation The Scream (Edvard Munch's famous canvas meets Pink Floyd!), the slick, Moebius strip-like Infinite Minutes and this year's Cannes Critics Week selection A Family Dinner.
Alexandru Tatos Retrospective
Anastasia Gently Passes
New 35mm print! Actress Anda Onesa and Director of Photography Florin Mihăilescu in person! Screening as part of our Alexandru Tatos Retrospective.
In a border village during WW2, Anastasia (Anda Onesa, winner of Best Actress at the 1980 Karlovy Vary Film Festival) refuses to obey orders and buries a partisan, in this unsettling and modern retelling of Antigone's myth.
Red Apples
New 35mm print! Cinematographer Florin Mihăilescu in person! Screening as part of our Alexandru Tatos Retrospective.
Following the tribulations of a newly-appointed urologist, Tatos' debut film is an acid pamphlet against destruction of young talent as well as a stand against the pervasive corruption that plagues even the noblest of professions.
Sequences
Free screening and panel discussion! Director of Photography Florin Mihăilescu in person!
Full of provocative political metaphors, Tatos' masterpiece is a powerful meditation on the role of the arts in a rigidly controlled society, told in three parts, each of which involves a film crew. Screening as part of our Alexandru Tatos retrospective, followed by a panel discussion on "Creative Freedom Through Cinema."
Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema 2014
The vibe of the ninth edition of Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema is perhaps best captured by Faulkner’s famous words “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Twenty-five years have passed since the fall of Communism, but for most of the films in this series, the past remains unfinished business. Read More
Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema 2013
Film as propaganda tool. Filmmaking as metabolic process. Throw in a triple dose of Transylvanian flavor from a popular series of Red Westerns, the complete works of Corneliu Porumboiu, Golden Bear award winner Child’s Pose, and the World Premiere of Closer to the Moon, and you’ll have the 8th edition of Making Waves. Read More
Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema 2012
Following on the success of the six previous editions of the Romanian Film Festival in New York, the newly rechristened Making Waves will offer a week of impressive recent films from the much-discussed Romanian “new wave” (including this year’s Romanian Oscar entry, Beyond the Hills), plus special panel discussions, classic film revivals and a retrospective devoted to influential master filmmaker Alexandru Tatos. Read More
