Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest – about the 9th edition
Between October 19th and 28th, Cannes’s award-winning films arrive in Romania. The 9th edition will be held simultaneously in seven cities across the country. This year’s edition of the festival returns, as we’ve come to expect, with the most anticipated films present in Cannes, brought for the first time in Romania, as well as special screenings, masterclasses, debates and many more.
Autumn previews
The Romanian films awarded at prestigious international festivals will have their national previews at this edition of Les Films de Cannes. Starting this year, in order to support Romanian productions, the festival will provide a distribution fund of 5.000 euro to a Romanian film or a film in the Romanian language. The support is offered by DACIN SARA and the Cinemascop Association to the film distributor.
The winner will be voted by the public and will be announced at the Closing Ceremony of the festival on October 28th, at 6 pm, at Cinema PRO.
For the Autumn Previews section, ADFR recommends:
Alice T (directed by Radu Muntean, a Romania-France-Sweden co-production) – The film’s leading actress is young Andra Guti playing a 17-year-old girl with a complicated adolescence – a role for which the actress won the prize for interpretation at Locarno Film Festival.
Love 1: Dog (directed by Florin Şerban) is a story that takes place in Transylvania, somewhere in the mountains. One morning, Simion finds an abused woman in the woods. At first, he tries to find out who has beaten her. Then he tries to love her.
Lemonade (directed by Ioana Uricariu) – the story of Mara, a medical nurse from Romania who has to tone down her fantasies about the American dream – once gotten there.
Beautiful Corruption (directed by Eugen Damaschin, a production of the Republic of Moldova) – The film is a mix of tales based on real facts belonging to a single hero who, in his pursuit of justice, resorts to methods that are not quite legal.
The 3D film, My Life Rehearsed in One Leg (directed by Bogdan Mustaţă), will have its preview in the CINETic screening room. The film tells the story of a couple that reunites after several months spent apart in different hospitals after a car accident. It will run twice a day on the weekend of October 20th-21st, and every night on the following week – since the hall can accommodate only 12 people. The director will be present at the screenings.
Also shown in premiere is the first episode of the TV series, Hackerville. The screening will take place on Friday, October 26th, at 9 pm, in the presence of the film crew. Directed by Igor Cobileanski and Anca Miruna Lazarescu, it is the first original series produced by HBO Romania. Entrance will be free.
Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest 2018 – Guests
In addition to premieres and previews, the festival manages every year to bring special guests, key members of the film industry. This year’s guests are
Marin Karmitz, a prolific European film producer and a La Fémis graduate. He has worked with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnès Varda and among the 108 films he produced and 350 he distributed are included those of Krzysztof Kieslowski, Theo Angelopoulos, Lucian Pintilie, Gus Van Sant, Michael Haneke, and Xavier Dolan.
The famous Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi, who has won over 70 awards for films such as About Elly, Beautiful City, The Salesman, Everybody Knows.
Zsófia Szilágyi, who directed her debut feature One Day, a film about a mother whose problems multiply day by day, as she begins to be overcome by the situation.
Marta Bergman focuses on the Roma community and women’s issues in contemporary society in her documentaries. Her debut feature, Seule à mon marriage, captures all these concerns.
Screenwriter Guillaume Nicloux has worked with actors such as Isabelle Huppert, Monica Bellucci, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Rochefort, Vanessa Paradis, and his filmography is an eclectic one, moving from experimental films to political films, noir and comedies, such as Les Enfants Volants, Le Poulpe, L’Enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq, Les Confins du Monde.
Jean-Bernard Marlin, also a La Fémis graduate, after a series of award-winning short films, he presents Shéhérezade, his first fiction feature, shot in Marseilles, with a cast of non-professionals.
Lee Chang-dong won the FIPRESCI Critics Award for his film Burning and will be present on Saturday, Oct. 20th, after the screening.
Cameraman Manuel Claro, who has worked with Lars Von Trier on several productions, will be present at The Untamed screening, by Amat Escalante. Claro will also hold a masterclass, organized by RSC – the Romanian Society of Cinematographers, on October 20th, at 9:30 am, at Union Cinema – free entrance.
Director, screenwriter and producer, Carlos Reygadas, studied law and is a specialist in armed conflict and force majeure events. Among his films, often present and winning in the Cannes competition, are Japón, Sangre, Silent Light, Post Tenebras Lux. His latest film, Our Time / Nuestro Tiempo, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Carlos Reygadas is also the one to open Les Films de Cannes à Timisoara. Our Time / Nuestro Tiempo will be screened on October 19th, at 6.30pm. It will be followed by a discussion with director and leading actor Carlos Reygadas, moderated by film critic Irina Margareta Nistor. Entrance is free.
The audience in Bucharest will have the chance to watch the film on October 21st at Cinema Pro, in the presence of the director and Natalia Lopez, screenwriter, editor and the director’s partner in real life, who plays the main female role.
The screening will be accompanied by a masterclass open to both filmmakers and spectators.
Furthermore, director Gaspar Noe is expected to confirm his participation at the festival, according to statements by Cristian Mungiu, the founder of the festival.
The Golden Day
A custom of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, the Golden Day means consecutive screenings of the winning films at the most prestigious international festivals: Berlin, Cannes and Venice.
This year’s program includes, chronologically, Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie, the Golden Bear winner in Berlin (screened at Cinema PRO), Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore- eda, the Palme d’Or winner in Cannes (screened at Elvira Popesco Cinema) and Rome by Alfonso Cuarón, the Golden Lion winner in Venice (screened at Baneasa Grand Cinema & More in its original format, by the author’s request; it was shot on 65 mm, 4K format and used Dolby Atmos technology for the sound design).
Aide à la Distribution
A new section in Les films de Cannes is Aide à la Distribution. Starting this year, the festival offers the chance of being purchased and shown to the audience in cinemas to a film that hasn’t been distributed yet in local cinemas, just within the festival. The film will be selected by the public’s vote, who can choose from the eight titles in the competition. Financial support is provided by the Cinemascop Association and means a promotional package worth 2500 EUR.
The films in the competition are Ash is Purest White, 3 Faces, Ayka, Les Confins du monde, Shéhérazade, The Load, One Day, Fugue.
Lucian Pintilie celebrated at Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest and the National Theater Festival
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest (October 19-28) and the National Theater Festival (October 19-29) pay tribute to Lucian Pintilie – the Romanian artist without whom neither the Romanian theater nor the Romanian film would have been the same today.
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest will host an homage evening on Saturday, October 20th, at Peasant Museum Cinema. Several film and theater artists are invited, such as Victor Rebengiuc, Mariana Mihuţ, Maia Morgenstern, Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Constantin Popescu, Silviu Stavila.
Among the films that will be screened we mention The Oak (1992), Sunday at Six (1965), Ward Six (1978), Terminus Paradis (1997), Reconstruction (1968), Too late (1996), An Unforgettable Summer (1994). The documentary about Lucian Pintilie, by Horea Lapteş, will also be screened.
Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest 2018 throughout the country
Timișoara: October 19th – 21st, West University, Aula Magna.
Arad: October 19th – 21st, Arta Cinema.
Cluj: October 26th – 28th, Cinema Victoria.
Iași: October 26th – 28th, Athenaeum Cinema.
November starts with the 2nd edition of Les Films de Cannes à Brașov, at Reduta Cultural Center and One Cinema.
Oradea: November 3rd – 4th, Queen Mary Theatre.
Suceava: November 9th – 11th, Matei Vișniec Theatre.
The 9th edition of the Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest festival will be held between October 19th– 28th at Cinema PRO, Elvire Popesco Cinema, Union Cinema, Peasant Museum Cinema, Grand Cinema & More in Baneasa Shopping City and CINETic.
For more information, follow the website and the Facebook or Instagram page. Screening tickets and reservations, including for those with free entrance, can be purchased online via Eventbook.ro or at the ticket offices in cinemas.
Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.