The “Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest” event had its official opening at the Cinema PRO on Friday with “Toni Erdmann,” in the presence of director Maren Ade.
Alongside the festival’s founder, director Cristian Mungiu, delivering a speech to the opening gala was also the director of the film presented in the event opening.
Maren Ade wished to thank for the invitation to participate in the festival of Bucharest.
“It is a pleasure to come back to Bucharest. Two years ago I finished here the shooting for “Toni Erdmann” and I thank you a lot for the invitation. It is a very beautiful opportunity to come back here,” the director said.
Director Cristian Mungiu told Agerpres that, same as in each edition, this year’s edition also planned to bring the best films to Bucharest.
“Same as each year, we have also planned to bring as many films as possible to the competition. It is not always up to us, it is up to the international release date of the films in question. For instance, there are some films that after Cannes are re-edited or the agent or producer has a different strategy regarding the Oscars or American festivals. This year, sending requests for 21 films we managed to receive positive answers for 20, and this not only brings us the highest number of films we have ever brought here, but on this occasion we also have all the award categories in the competition. At the same time, we also have in Bucharest all the important prizes in the Cannes adjacent sections,” Cristian Mungiu said.
Saturday is the Golden Day at the “Films de Cannes a Bucarest” Festival. The films awarded the top three trophies of the year in great festivals will roll as a first in only one day at the Cinema PRO. The marathon kicks off with Lav Diaz’s new film “The Woman Who Left”, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Festival, and goes on with “Fire at Sea” – directed by Gianfranco Rosi, the documentary awarded the Golden Bear in Berlin, and the Palme d’Or winner, “I Daniel Blake” – directed by Ken Loach.
Mungiu brought to mind that this year’s edition will also focus on Romanian films, besides the Golden Day.
“For the first time, besides the Cannes films and the winners in Venice and Berlin, which we present again under the Golden Day, when you can see the top three award-winning films of the year, for the first time we are focusing on Romanian films, in two sections. On the one hand, there are the Romanian previews which will be released in cinemas by the end of the year or in the beginning of next year – and some of them are outstanding, let me say – , and on the other hand there are the “in progress” works, namely those which are being shot now and which, we hope, will be the films of next year’s festivals. There are more than 10 projects, there are more than 10 foreign professionals who are interested in buying, distributing, broadcasting or writing about these films, and I would like to consolidate this initiative. It is a good moment of the year, the end of October, when big festivals such as Berlin, Rotterdam, Cannes, Sundance need this feedback in respect to what was released in a cinematography so present in festivals such as the Romanian one. I hope we can give them this chance every year,” Mungiu also said.
Among the films that can be watched the first weekend of the festival there are: “Juste la fin du monde” (It’s Only the End of the World) – directed by Xavier Dolan (Grand Prix), “American Honey” (directed by Andrea Arnold – The Jury Prize), “Ma’Rosa” (Award for Best Actress – Jaclyn Jose), “Elle” (directed by Paul Verhoeven) – France’s proposal for the Oscar, “Fixeur” – Adrian Sitaru’s new film, and “Si va fi…” (Presentiment), which is a co-production of the Buftea Studios and Delta Film (Moscow), directed by Moldovan Valeriu Jereghi, filmed by Vivi Dragan Vasile, and projected in Un Certain Regard, at Cannes in 1993. Part of the team will also be present at the projection on Sunday, at the Peasant Museum Cinema.
“Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest” will take place this year at Cinema PRO, Elvire Popesco Cinema, the Peasant Museum Cinema and the Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Art.
This year the festival will enjoy an extended edition. For the first time, simultaneous projections with the selected films will also take place in Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara.
The 7th edition of “Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest” is organised by the Cinemascop Association and Voodoo Films, and carried out in partnership with France’s Embassy and the French Institute in Bucharest and the National Museum of Art of Romania. This cultural project is funded by the Culture Ministry, the National Centre of Cinematography, SACD/Societe des Auteurset Compositeurs Dramatiques, the Cultural Centre of projects of the Bucharest Municipality Hall – ARCUB, under the “Bucuresti – Orasul in-vizibil” 2016 cultural programme, the Romanian Cultural Institute, Goethe Institut and Finland’s Embassy.
