Some of the best Romanian movies of all times will be presented in Israel, in the Romanian Film Retrospective organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, in partnership with the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa Cinematheques, with the support of the Romanian Film Center and the National Film Archieve - Bucharest Cinematheque.
Some of the best Romanian movies of all times will be presented in Israel, in the Romanian Film Retrospective organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, in partnership with the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa Cinematheques, with the support of the Romanian Film Center and the National Film Archieve - Bucharest Cinematheque.
Between the 10th of November and the 11th of December 2008, film lovers in Israel are invited to see great movies made in Romania, representative for the history of the Romanian cinema (feature films, short films, documentaries, animation films, newsreel). The screenings will take place at the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa Cinematheques.
The selection of feature films is based on the Top List of the best Romanian films of all times, initiated by the Film Critics’ Association in Romania. There will be presented 18 feature films, from the Forest of the Hanged (1964, directed by Liviu Ciulei, Prize for the Best Director at Cannes in 1965) to Boogie (2008, directed by Radu Muntean, presented in the selection Quinzaine des Realisateurs in Cannes, this year). Among the selected movies there are feature films selected or awarded in great international film festivals (such as The Stone Wedding – 1971, Dan Pița and Mircea Veroiu; 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – 2007, Cristian Mungiu; The Clowns – 1981, Elisabeta Bostan; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu – 2005, Cristi Puiu; Don’t Lean Out the Window – 1993, Nae Caranfil), and other exceptional movies still unknown to the international public (Sequences 1982, Alexandru Tatos), as well as truly good movies, censored by the communist regime (Meanders – 1967, Mircea Săucan; Reenactement – 1970, Lucian Pintilie).
Before the screening of each feature film, there will be presented annimation films by Ion Popescu Gopo (whose Short History was awarded with Palme d'Or for the best short film at Cannes, in 1957), several short films (among them, the debut films of the directors Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi Puiu) and also several newsreels - from the 1950s to the 1970s, that will introduce the communist cinema athmosphere to the Israeli public. A special section in this Retrospective is dedicated to the Romanian documentary films, of an exceptional quality but less familiar to the international public.
Costel Safirman, the curator of the Retrospective, says: „We would like to offer the Israeli audience a chance to become deeply acquainted with filmmaking in motion, rooted in a past which is not lacking in dramatics nor in values, which entrusted its destiny into the hands of several young and, as it has been already proven, exceptionally gifted cinematographers”. The selection of films in this Retrospective is pointing to the tendencies and continuity of the Romanian school of cinema, as the film critic Cristina Corciovescu says: „(…) the gaps in judgement between the young film critics and their older peers, are not as vast as might have been expected; (…) the present Romanian neorealism is profoundly rooted in films such as Reenactment, Sequences and Microphone Test”.
At the events organized on the occasion of this Retrospective are invited to participate: film critics Cristina Corciovescu and Magda Mihăilescu, actress Anamaria Marinca, film directors Cristian Mungiu, Elisabeta Bostan, Iosif Demian, Dan Pița, Laurențiu Damian, Copel Moscu, Hanno Hoefer. Besides the film screenings, on the occasion of this Retrospective, there will be organized meetings between our guests and the Israeli public, a press conference in Tel Aviv and a meeting at the Romanian Cultural Circle in Jerusalem. The program of the Retrospective will be presented on the websites of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv (www.icrtelaviv.org), on the websites of the cinematheques in Jerusalem (http://www.jer-cin.org.il), Tel Aviv (http://www.cinema.co.il) and Haifa (http://www.ethos.co.il), as well as in the printed monthly programs distributed by the cinematheques.
On the 10th of November, 12.00 hrs., at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv (8 Shaul Hamelech Blvd.) a press conference will be organized, with the participation of film directors Elisabeta Bostan, Cristian Mungiu, Laurențiu Damian and Hanno Hoefer, actress Anamaria Marinca, film critics Cristina Corciovescu and Magda Mihăilescu.
The film Occident will be presented on the opening of the Retrospective, in the presence of film director Cristian Mungiu, at the cinematheques in Tel Aviv (November 10, 21.00 hrs.) and Jerusalem (November 11, 20.00 hrs.). At the Haifa Cinematheque, on the 16th of November, 19:30 hrs, will take place a festive screening of the film The Stone Wedding, in the presence of its film director, Dan Pița and the cinematographer Iosif Demian.
The Cultural Circle in Jerusalem (inside the Jerusalem Cinematheque, 11 Derech Hebron) will host, on the 14th of November, 11:00 hrs, a meeting with the public (panel in Romanian) with the participation of film critics Cristina Corciovescu and Magda Mihăilescu, actress Anamaria Marinca and film directors Iosif Demian, Dan Pița, Laurențiu Damian, Copel Moscu.