Stills
Short film / Romania / 2006 / 45 min / colour / English subtitles
Director: Cristian Nemescu
Madalina Ghitescu, Gabriel Huian, Cristi Olesher, Gabriel Spahiu
Andrei, a 13 year old teenager, living in one of Bucharest’s outskirts, decides one day to steal a trolleybus in order to impress Marilena, a prostitute he’s fallen in love with.
The things one does for love...
“This film takes a plunge into the universe of teenage emotions that we all remember. It is a study on the reasons (sometimes big, sometimes small) that make us turn from children into teenagers. The story takes place in the ‘exotic’ outskirts of Bucharest, and the background is peopled with many authentically racy characters.
Besides telling the story, the film also shows a cross-section of the life in the suburbs of Bucharest at the beginning of the 21st century, with no intervention whatsoever on most of the locations and extras. It’s a film about feelings, not about Romanian reality. It was important and innovative for me to concentrate on the feelings of a teenager, his problems and the way he understands the world around him.”
Best Romanian Film, Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), Cluj, 2006; Best Feature, Milan IFF 2006; Best Short Film and Best Actress, Molodist IFF, 2006.
Born in 1979 in Bucharest. Graduated in 2003 from the National University of Drama and Cinematography in Bucharest. In August 2006, Nemescu (27) died in a car crash together with his sound engineer Andrei Toncu (28). Nemescu’s producer started a short film festival in Bucharest, in memory of Nemescu and Toncu. More info on the NexT Festival at www.nextproject.ro/festival/
2006: California Dreaming (post-production); feature film, colour – director
2006: Marilena from P7; medium length feature, 45 min, colour – director, screenwriter, producer
2002: C Block Story; short film, 14 min, colour – director, screenwriter
2001: Mihai and Cristina; short film, colour – director, screenwriter
2000: Kitsch Witches 2FM; documentary, colour – director
2000: In Apartment Buildings People Are Crazy About Music; short film, colour – director
Nemescu was young and interested in sexuality and cinematic language. He aimed to mix fantasy into social realism, and dreamed to walk out of the habitual realist aesthetic of Romanian cinema. Most of his films had a sexual intrigue: exploring sexuality was a way to break free from the harsh skin of the real, and to reach out to alternative human and cinematic realms. Nemescu was interested in stories about marginality and youth folk walking on the border between ages and struggling with the forbidden and the taboo.
Nemescu made a great team with Andrei Toncu, his sound engineer. They were creative, and they knew how to have fun while being creative. The car crash happened late at night when they were returning home after working on the post-production of Nemescu’s debut feature, California Dreaming. Sadly, there is no ‘future continuous’ for them any more. (A.B.)