10 – 14 November 2011
Curzon Mayfair cinema, 38 Curzon Street, London W1J 7TY
& Curzon Soho cinema, 99 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5DY
PROGRAMME
Thursday 10 November 2011, 6.10pm, Screen 1, Curzon Mayfair
TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS by Radu Muntean – Festival’s Gala Screening
Romania, 2010, 99 mins. Written by Alexandru Baciu, Razvan Radulescu and Radu Muntean
With: Mimi Branescu, Mirela Oprisor, Maria Popistasu.
“The strength of ‘Tuesday, After Christmas,’ Mr. Muntean’s fourth feature, lies in its rigorous, artful and humane fidelity to quotidian circumstance.”
A. O. Scott, New York Times, 24 May 2011
Paul Hanganu married Adriana ten years ago. They have an eight year old daughter, Mara. For the past six months he has been involved in an extra-marital affair with Raluca, a twenty-seven-year-old dentist.
Paul, who is struggling to find time for Raluca, for gift shopping and for his family, decides to take his daughter to the dentist one last time before Christmas. An unexpected change in Adriana’s schedule brings the two women in the same room for the first time. The meeting forces Paul to face a difficult decision…
Followed by Q&A
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Friday 11 November 2011, 6.00pm, Screen 2, Curzon Mayfair
PHANTOM FATHER by Lucian Georgescu
Romania, 2011, 90 mins. Written by Lucian Georgescu.
With: Marcel Iures, Mihaela Sarbu, Mimi Branescu, Barry Gifford, Victor Rebengiuc, Mariana Mihut.
American Professor Robert Traum takes a sabbatical and turns his back on a present devoid of surprise, to live an adventure from the past. Back in the Old World, he researches the origins of his father and uncle, the famous Traum brothers: Rudolf, a famous novelist, and Samuel – once a notorious gangster in Chicago. While travelling through Transylvania and Bucovina Robert meets Tanya, a Government archivist. Together they find Sami, the last surviving family friend, a cinema projectionist who was chased out of his old movie theatre by a greedy local politician. While Robert helps Sami win his theatre, Sami gives Robert his identity back.
Preceded by
SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN OR BATMAN, a short film by Tudor Giurgiu
Romania, 2011, 11 mins. Written by Doru Lupeanu.
Cast: Bogdan Zsolt, Aaron Serban, Ovidiu Cridan, Elena Ivanca.
Aron, a 5-year-old boy, sets out together with his worried father on a journey, at the end of which he intends, like the superheroes in the comic books, to save the world.
Followed by Q&A
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Saturday 12 November 2011, 6.00pm, Screen 2, Curzon Mayfair
CARNIVAL SCENES by Lucian Pintilie
Romania, 1979, 120 mins. Written by Lucian Pintilie based on a play by I L Caragiale.
With: Victor Rebengiuc, Mariana Mihut, Gheorghe Dinica, Tora Vasilescu, Petre Gheorghiu, Florin Zamfirescu, Mircea Diaconu.
Didina Mazu, the kept woman of Pampon, is in love with barber Nae Girimea, the Don Juan of the district. But Nae is also the lover of Mita Baston, who is the mistress of Cracanel. A letter of Mita’s, sent to Nae (who lost it) is found by Pampon at Didina’s, sending him on a false trail, and creating a scandal. Everything develops against the backdrop of Carnival days, a major event of the suburbs. A world in which survival is incessantly conditioned by people playing the fool, and by people fooling each other.
Based on a theatrical text by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912), this cruel portrait of Romania was censored for a decade, and was only being released after the 1989 revolution.
Followed by Q&A
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Sunday 13 November 2011, 5.30pm, Screen 2, Curzon Mayfair
LOVERBOY by Catalin Mitulescu
Romania, 2011, 93 mins. Written by Catalin Mitulescu, Bianca Oana, Bogdan Mustata.
With: George Pistereanu, Ada Condeescu, Ion Besoiu, Clara Voda.
Luca, a twenty-year-old, seduces women and then passes them on to a prostitution network. Luca falls in love with one of his potential victims. It’s summer on the Danube river, in Harsova. The music is loud, the cars are fancy, the girls are tanned and Veli runs away from home in Luca’s bed. First love has never felt more dangerous.
Preceded by
LORD, a short film by Adrian Sitaru
Romania, 2010, 25 mins. Written by Adrian Sitaru.
With: Andreea Samson, Sergiu Costache.
Although he hates dogs, Toni “specialises” in finding lost animals and then blackmailing their owners in order to obtain beautiful, large amounts of money. But this one time, because of an old and ugly Pekinese he cannot get rid of, Toni is surprised to discover that strange and affectionate feelings are awoken in him…
Followed by Q&A
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Monday 14 November 2011, 6.30pm, Screen 3, Curzon Soho
(99 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5DY)
CRULIC by Anca Damian – Festival’s Closing Night
Romania-Poland, 2011, 73 mins. Written by Anca Damian.
Narrated by Vlad Ivanov, Jamie Sives.
The animated documentary feature-length “Crulic – The Path to Beyond” tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33 years old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike. The acclaimed Romanian actor, Vlad Ivanov, narrates Crulic’s ironic voice over from beyond the grave.
A strong visual style, the result of beautiful hand drawn, collage, stop-motion and cut-cut animation techniques, blend to create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film.
Followed by Q&A
This film is included in the Curzon Doc Days strand.
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Festival Director: Ramona Mitrica
Festival Curator: Mike Phillips
Friends of the Festival: Nicolae Ratiu, Eugen Serbanescu, Alina Salcudeanu, Eugen Tomac, Adrian Cherciu, Ana Santos
Design, typesetting & e-mail: Mihai Risnoveanu
Screening copies through the National Centre of Cinematography (CNC) in Bucharest
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The Romanian Film Festival in London
8th edition, 10 -14 November 2011, Curzon Mayfair and Curzon Soho cinemas