A Little Bit About Ana
The film makes a journey across Ana's life. Ana is in quest of falling in love, of having the best possible friends, of finding herself, and of being accepted by others. It is a journey through the dark. A documentary about trafficked women in Romania, one among many tragic issues in post-communist Romania.
A Fancy House
Sibiu, Romania, is getting a new EU look. Everything must be gleaming.
"Waiting for the EU." Debates, disclosures and an old vaccum cleaner. Sibiu is one of the richest cities in Romania and European Capital of Culture 2007. In the middle of all this is 70-years-old Ioan Drasovean, an old man trying to keep up with the drastic changes in his country. We follow Ioan in his everyday life: at home or sitting on a bench in the park: in serious discussions with his friend Ilie or with others, discussing Putin, Castro and mobile phone charges. And there is an old vaccum cleaner that needs to be fixed. "We are waiting for the EU." This is a film about Romanian society, its problems and hopes. And about how communism gave up because it was clever.
A Few Things About Queen Marie
"I was barely seventeen when I came to you. I was young and ignorant, but very proud of my native country, and even now, I am proud to have been born an Englishwoman... but I bless you, dear Romania, country of my joy and my grief, the beautiful country which has lived in my heart" (Queen Marie of Romania). The film is conceived as a personal account. Fragments of the Queen's biography are interpreted by the acclaimed actress Maia Morgenstern, whose profile is projected on a background of archive footage and photographs.
About Iulian Mihu, As He Was; About Us, The Way We Are
Iulian Mihu, departed from amongst
us for 10 years now, is a great
personality of Romanian cinema.
His films talk could probably say most
about their creator. In spite of that,
the makers of this documentary, due
to the lack of hard evidence preserving
Mihu’s memory, wished that he be
remembered through the testimonies
of some of his colleagues and friends.
Violeta Andrei, Irina Petrescu, Sergiu
Nicolaescu, Julieta Szonyi, Liliana Tudor
Iorgulescu, Radu Boruzescu, assistant
director Adriana Lupu and editor
Gabriela Nasta are only some of the
names of those who, each in their own
manner, contributed their memories to
the making of this film. Thus we catch
a glimpse of a director who was able to
defy rules and orders. The film-makers
try, in this movie, to act a little bit like
him - sincere and unconventional. He
had an enigmatic persona - sometimes
furious, sometimes gentle and his motto
could have been “we film to have fun”. He
was an artist who, despite his career ups
and downs, scandals and great movie,
will always be remembered for his free
spirit and the fact that he was always,
until the very end, true to himself.
Adakale Stories
The amazing and thought provoking story of the tiny island of Adakale, which was known as a fairy land in the River Danube until it sank in the waters of a dam in 1970… Being the source of the most striking experiences of the Turks that may be traced in Europe and along the River Danube until our times, Adakale is being translated into the language of cinema for the first time, being aware of all sources. The documentary named "Adakale Stories" tries to connect the divided memories of the islanders who were dissolved in the lands of Turkey and Romania with their roots through their memories, albums, souvenirs, and dreams. The documentary films in disarranged archives, and accessories, maps, litographs in museums of the Adakale people who were scattered away turn into the sour taste of an incurable homesickness.
Adam and Eve
The film is shot in a remote Romanian mountain village. Here, the men, like biblical Adam, work hard in the field day after day. The women, like Eve, keep the house and have many children. Based on interviews, the film tells stories of the past and talks about hardships of the present. It alternates between splendid mountain scenery and moments in the daily life of the villagers. The filmmaker differentiates between the roles of men and women in village life. While men are observed working in the field, women are filmed in the setting of their homes, where they spend the largest part of their lives. This is a film with touching stories about people living in a dying rural world.
Adela and Agnetha
Adela is a Gypsy married to a Saxon
from Transylvania, while Agnetha is a
Saxon married to a Gypsy. They live in
the same village, Mergideal, are mothers
to many children and life doesn’t go
easy on them. When asked “How did
you meet?” they answer plainly, “It
was love.” In Transylvania, there are
hundreds such families, spread in
the areas where Saxons used to live.
The documentary film maker tells of
how he went into the Transylvanian
Plateau looking for Roma and Saxon
mixed families. He was interested in
these minorities, opposite both in origin
and culture. The Gypsies remember
the times when they came about and
there were many Saxons and only a
few Gypsy. Now it is different. What do
the two ethnic groups have in common
and what differentiate them? What do
they learn from each other? A close look
on interculturalism in Transylvania.
After the Revolution
This is a film about what happened just after Romania's bloody 1989 revolution. Set in the streets of central Bucharest and filmed in the observational cinema style, After the Revolution follows the furious debates that were taking place on the streets at the time and observes the struggle for power between Ion Iliescu, a former Communist leader who assumed power immediately after Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed, and Ion Ratiu who had spent most of his life living in exile in London.
Alo!?
An isolated village, not far from Bucharest. Most of its young people have left the village for the city. They could not communicate with the families they left behind, so they bought them mobile phones. How did the villagers adapt to this new type of communication?
Am I Lucky?
Would you have been lucky if your
parents, if they wished to punish you,
would have forbidden you to go to
school? Would you have been lucky
if you had to marry at 13 years? The
questions are asked by two young
men, a Romanian and a Roma, turned
into reporters, during their ten-day-
long journey through several different
Roma communities from Romania.
Every stop reaches a new question: in
Seaca, few remember the slaves who
founded the village, in Fetesti the topic
is made by the orphans returned after
the deportation in Transnistria, and in
Brateiu, Sibiu county, the Roma make
kettles which they sell in museums
and fairs, and their children already
have dowry and marry on the parents’
command and only wear traditional
clothing. In Dumbraveni, the Roma go
to the school for children with special
needs if they repeat the class for three
years, while students on the special
places from the student dormitories in
Bucharest tell their success stories. A
voyage about ignorance and stereotypes
on music by Shukar Collective.
And the roof is called "Home"
The Maramureş village is the eye of the sky for those who guard the mystery of the warm and perfumed wood which lasts a life-time. Its shadow is the everlasting nature of the church.
Anton Pann - Dealer in Words
A film reconstructing the moment of transformation from an oral folk-culture, from the folklore of the city and slums to cultivated literature inspired by such folklore. It is about the passage from the old period to the new which new meet in a unique, fascinating character, Anton Pann. His life and work emanate a special atmosphere - that of Bucharest at that time.
Apocalypse On Wheels
This is not a film about the how the roads or the cars look like, but about what the traffic turns us into. I chose 5 different people whom I accompanied all over town, in their every day journeys. For 5 months, I have been with them in their car, sitting on the right seat and lidtening to them. They are all ordinary people: - a delivery boy who has been driving about 14 hours a day around the capital; - a half paralyzed man who not only drives a car, but he also helps other people to avail themselves of cars; - a Peru born eoman, who was raised in a city with an equally crazed traffic; - a father who has recently lost his daughter in a traffic accident; - a policeman who, before December '89, was beaten up by militia.
Art of The Dictatorship , The Dictators of Art
The author makes his documentary round the idea of the influence of the dictatorship on plastic, film, literary and architectural arts.For his commentary he used the words of some well-known figures in these fields.
Australia
How do seven young men, former street
children in Romanian get to see the Pacific?
On December 1st, 2008, a national team
from Romania participates for the first time
in the Homeless World Cup, in Melbourne,
Australia. The film focuses on the members
of the team, from selection to the end of
the championship. The young men come
from Timisoara and Arad, ran away from
home and living now in derelict houses,
or working and paying rent after having
passed through orphanages or prisons.
After being defeated by many teams, the
young Romanians manage to beat the
USA team. They are happy. They are all
considering staying and never returning
“home”. It is well here, nice weather and
people are kind. “In case I never return,
a kiss for you all”, cautiously says one of
them. But after having photos taken of
them on the beach with pretty girls next
to them and the ocean behind, the seven
return to Romanian to go on with their lives.