Ro-mania! October 1–31, 2007

AWARD WINNINF FILMS FROM ROMANIA

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (ENDLESS)
Romania | 2007, Betacam, Color, 155' | Romanian; Turkish and English subtitles
Director: Cristian Nemescu
Cast: Annand Assante, Razvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, lon Sapdaru, Alex Margineanu

US Marine Captain Jones is assigned to escort train carrying NATO equipment headed for Yugoslavia during the war in Kosovo. His mission is held back by Doiaru, a very thorough station master in a godforsaken village, who halts the train over a paperwork technicality. The community makes ridiculous efforts to welcome the Americans, intending to profit from their unexpected presence.
*Festival de Cannes 2007 - Un Certain Regard

OCCIDENT / WEST
Romania | 2002, DVD, Color, 100' | Romanian; Turkish and English subtitles
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Alexondru Papadopol, Dorel Visan, Tania Popa, Coca Bloos, Tora Vasilescu, ıoan Gyuri Pascu

Occident is the first feature-length film, a bitter comedy by 2007 Cannes Palm d'Or award winner director Cristian Mungiu, about people who want to emigrate from Romanla and those who stay behind. Three different stories cross, interconnect and happen in the same time period. The characters influence each others lives, sometimes even without knowing. Time and storytelling play out in an unusually visual film.

THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE / HARTIA VA FI ALBASTRA
Romania | 2006, Betacam, Color, 95' | Romanian; Turkish and English subtitles
Director: Radu Muntean
Cast: Paul lpate, Adi Carauleanu, Andi Vasluianu, Dragos Bucur, Alexandru Georgescu, Ana Ularu

During the night of December 22-23, 1989, mere hours after the fail of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a squad of confused militia men navigates the chaotic streets of a Bucharest rife with warring factions; in this docudrama with an adept blend of realism and wryly obsessed humor.

THE WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD / CUM MI-AM PETRECUT SFARSITUL LUMII
Romania | 2006, Betacam, Color, 106' | Romanian; Turkish and English subtitles
Director: Catalin Mitulescu
Cast: Doroteea Petre, Timotei Duma, lonut Becheru, Christian Varary

When Eva's boyfriend Alex accidentally-on-purpose smashes a bust of Ceausescu, she is kicked out of school and sent to a camp for kids who do not conform. Singled out and harassed by her new classmates, Eva responds with smiles and learns to enjoy her new heterogeneous environment.
*Festival de Cannes 2007- Un Certain Regard, Best Actress

PHILANTHROPY / FILANTROPICA
Romania | 2002, DVD, Color, 110’ | Romanian; Turkish and French subtitles
Director: Nae Caranfil
Cast: Mircea Diaconu, Gheorghe Dinica, Mara Nicolescu, Viorica Voda

Ovidiu, 35, a literature teacher in a Bucharest school, dreams of becoming a famous writer. He falls madly in love with Diana, a model, who extols the virtues of a brand of toothpaste in an advertisement. To please her, and to satisfy all her whims, he pretends he's a young millionaire and spends the equivalent of several months of his meager teacher's wages in one weekend.

RECONSTRUCTION / RECONSTITUIREA
Romania | 1968, DVD, Color, 100' | Romanian; Turkish subtitles
Director. Lucian Pintilie
Cast: George Constantin, Emik Botta, George Mihaita, Vladimir Gaitan, Emert Maftei

Two teenage students, who get drunk, break up a bar and hit the barman. Due to their good record they are acquitted by the local magistrate who decides to have the whole incident reenacted in order to use it as a lesson for young people. Based on the story by Horie Patrascu.

THE OAK / BALANTA
Romania | 1992, DVD, Color, 104' | Romanian; Turkish and Engllsh subtitles
Director: Lucian Pintilie
Cast: Maia Morgenstem, Razvan Vasilescu, Victor Rebengiuc, Dorel Visan, lon Paviescu

The Oak depicts Romania before Ceausescu's downfalI, through the story of Nela, the daughter of a former colonel of the Securitate, the Romanian political police. She has refused to become as her sister, who is an agent of this Securitate, and lives with her father. After the father dies, she leaves Bucarest and ends up in a little town, where she meets Mitica, a surgeon, and begins a different life.

THE FOREST WOMAN / PADUREANCA
Romania | 1987, DVD, Color, 109'  | Romanian; Turkish and English subtilles
Director: Nicolae Margineanu
Cast: Victor Rebengiuc, Adrian Pintea, Manuela Harabor, Serban lonescu, Dorel Visan

Director Nicolae Margineanu puts his delicae touch on this masterpiece, novel-based film a dramatic love story set in the midst of a cholera epidemic. The unfulfilled love between the son of a wealthy peasant and beautiful but poor girl, set in the Austro­Hungarian empire at the end of the XIX century.

RYNA
Romania | 2006, DVD, Color, 91' | Romanian; Turkish and English subtitles
Director: Ruxandra Zenide
Cast: Dorotheea Petre, Valentin Popescu, Matthieu Reze, Radu

16 year old Ryna is the daughter of a Romanian who runs a gas station in a small community in the Danube delta. Poor Ryna has been brought up ilke a boy because her father had longed for a son. Caught between traditional values and materiallistic dreams, in the end Ryna pays a heavy price in order to preserve her identity.

EMINESCU VS EMINEM
Romania | 2005, Betacam, Color, 80' | Romanian; Turkish and Spanish subtitles
Director: Florin Piersic Jr.
Cast: Mihai Bendeac, Emanuel Parvu, Constantin Dita

This lndependent film recounts the efforts and imagination of a young group trying to produce a film with the inspiration from Romanian poet Eminescu.

TALK: ON ROMANIAN CINEMA
Romanian film critic Alex Leo Serban, will be in conversation with a film critic from Turkey and a special guest from Romania, following the 14:00 screening of Cafilornia Dreamin' (Endless}. Alex Leo Serban is a film critic, writer, visual artist, curator and member of numerous international juries of art exhibitions and film festivals.