One of the most beloved film festivals in Romania, Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, returns between October 22-31. The 12th edition will take place in cinemas (Elvire Popesco Cinema, Peasant Museum Cinema, Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Art of Romania, Union Cinematheque), as well as outdoors and online.

Opening the festival this year is La Civil, the first feature by Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai. The film had its premiere in the Official Selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it received an 8-minute standing ovation and was awarded the Prix de l’Audace in the Un Certain Regard section.

La Civil will be screened for the first time in Romania on October 22, in the presence of the director, who will also hold a Q&A at the end. The film is a Belgium-Romania-Mexico co-production and is inspired by a true story, told from the perspective of a mother searching for her daughter, kidnapped by a criminal cartel in Northern Mexico.

“In 2015, we went to Mexico to investigate the subject matter. We talked to a lot of people and heard many testimonies until we met Miriam Rodríguez, who changed the course of this project. One of the first things she told me was, «When I wake up in the morning, I want to kill or die.» What did this person experience to make her speak in this way? That made me decide I had to tell the story of La Civil.  And at that moment, I realized we should tell this story from the point of view of the mother looking for her child, instead of a child growing up in this environment,” said Teodora Ana Mihai.

Belgium is also the country chosen for this year’s Focus program of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, comprising titles such as Les Intranquilles (dir. Joachim Lafosse) and Rien à foutre (dir. Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre).

The festival selection includes over 80 films, most of them presented in national premiere, grouped in three sections: Sélection Officielle, Golden Day and Autumn Previews. Some of the most expected films in the LFC program are Titane (dir. Julia Ducournau, winner of the Palme d’Or), A Hero (dir. Asghar Farhadi, winner of the Grand Prix), Memoria (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, winner of the Prix du Jury), Drive My Car (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, the Best Screenplay Award and the FIPRESCI Award), and The Worst Person in the World (dir. Joachim Trier, the Best Actress Award for Renate Reinsve).

For more info about the 12th edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, visit their official website and Facebook page. Tickets are available on Eventbook.ro.

Melissa Antonescu

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.