Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest film festival will take place this fall, with most of the events originally planned still in schedule, despite the restrictions and changes that continue to occur as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic evolution in Romania. Of course, in order for this year’s edition to take place safely and in compliance with the sanitary measures in place at that time, a mass reorganization of the event was needed, which the organizers successfully managed to carry out.

In fact, the poster for the 11th edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest pays homage to the immense effort that festivals everywhere have had to go through this year in order to continue to reach the public, in any way possible. Graphic designer Carmen Gociu signs the visual concept, by using as inspiration the poster of the 1939 Cannes Film Festival, the only edition of the festival that was canceled, due to the Second World War.

Keeping its original dates, October 23 – November 1, the festival will organize events taking place online, in open air spaces and at the drive-in.

A selection of films presented this year at the most important festivals in the world will be now screened at the Drive-in Cinema in Event Park Snagov:

Another Round (dir. Thomas Vinterberg) – is the opening film of the festival and is directed by one of the most famous contemporary film authors. Thomas Vinterberg is part of the Danish school of auteurs who came into the limelight and received critical acclaim after the publication of their manifesto Dogma 95;

“Presented as the opening night film, Another Round tells the story of four Danish high-school teachers as they test the theory that you can live and work better if you have a constant amount of alcohol in your system.” – Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest

The Speech (dir. Laurent Tirard) – “The film introduces us to Adrien, who, at 35, is in the throes of a midlife crisis. He’s neurotic and a hypochondriac and the prisoner of a never-ending family dinner. He’s annoyed that his girlfriend isn’t replying to his texts and to make things worse, his nagging future brother-in-law asks him to prepare a speech to deliver at their wedding. What could be worse?” – Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest

La Vérité / The Truth (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda) – Hirokazu Koreeda’s first film outside Japan opened the Official Competition of the Venice Film Festival. The film describes a stormy reunion between an actress and her daughter, after the publication of her scandalous memoirs;

Mandibules (dir. Quentin Dupieux) – A true character, known for his preoccupation with the comical absurd, Quentin Dupieux arrives in Bucharest with his film that follows the adventures of two friends and an enormous fly, which they decide to train and tame;

True Mothers (dir. Naomi Kawase) – Presented in national premiere at Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Naomi Kawase’s most recent film “centers around two strong main characters: Satoko, the wealthy adoptive mother, and Hikari, the young and desperate biological mother who doesn’t want to disappear from her son’s life.” – Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest

Sweat (dir. Magnus Von Horn) – tells the story of a fitness trainer and motivational influencer who, despite having hundreds of thousands of followers, doesn’t have a life as perfect as one might think; and so, we get to see a different side of the celebrity that we might not be familiar with.

The online component of the festival introduces the autumn previews, and the public will have the opportunity to watch some of the most expected Romanian films to be released in cinemas in 2021. Among them are documentaries Holy Father (dir. Andrei Dascalescu) and Lost Kids on the Beach (dir. Alina Manolache), and fiction films Otto the Barbarian (dir. Ruxandra Ghitescu) and Mia Misses Her Revenge (dir. Bogdan Theodor Olteanu).

Also, the online program of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest will feature a selection of films presented in previous editions of the Cannes Film Festival.

Special events include a masterclass live via Zoom with filmmaker Naomi Kawase. The director, who has received numerous international awards throughout her career, will be talking about her process and the way in which she sees the cinematographic world. The screening of her film, True Mothers, will be followed by a Q&A session.

Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest will take place between October 23 and November 1. Tickets will be available on Eventbook.ro. In order to keep in touch with the latest news, follow the Les Films de Cannes website and Facebook page.

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.