All Change!

Mini Festival Report Video Now Online!

Dear Friends,

We have almost reached the beginning of the sixth edition of the Romanian Film Festival in London, and we believe that we need to say a big thank you to you, our audience, for your love of Romanian culture and for keeping us on our toes and spurring us to do bigger and better projects.

ALL CHANGE! has by all accounts the marks of a truly fabulous event, and we are not saying this just to blow our own trumpet. You can judge by yourself: we have an array of special guests from Romania who will attend the screenings and Q&A sessions, we have some of the newest and best Romanian productions, some of the films are presented for the first time in London, and the best and most dedicated audience.

Of course, the Opening Night of ALL CHANGE! is this Friday, 1 May 2009, starting at 18.20. Respected veteran film director Jack Gold, one of the members of the so-called British Realist film tradition, will welcome the Romanian guests and the audience in the Curzon Mayfair’s great projection room.

After this, you will see the absolute premiere of ‘Legacy’, a short documentary film charting the activity of the Ratiu Foundation through interviews with people ranging from the Foundation’s Trustees to internationally acclaimed personalities. This film was directed by Laurentiu Garofeanu, and was produced by ProFusion International Creative Consultancy, scripted by author Mike Phillips. The film will be available later on to the general public within our planned public library.

The Opening Film is the London premiere of Horatiu Malaele directorial debut in film, the stunning ‘Silent Wedding’. The projection will be followed by a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see actor and director Horatiu Malaele and acting legend Victor Rebengiuc in a Q&A session hosted by Ramona Mitrica, Director of the Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre.

We are planning to receive Horatiu in London with a spot of live wedding music before the screening – all this inspired by the film, but also by the Romanian expression “a primi cu surle si trambite” (literally, to welcome someone with the music of horns and trumpets). We hope you’ll enjoy this little extra surprise.

A Festival preview cover story, written by film critic David Parkinson, has already been published by film magazine Empire Online. It is available at www.empireonline.com/festivalsandseasons/ (scroll down), and we think you’ll enjoy it.

We are sure that some of you might be wondering why we choose to call our Festival ALL CHANGE! Together with our curator, Verena von Stackelberg, we thought that Romanian film has reached a certain point recently, the point where we have to get off a train, and board another one, in a new direction. It was a case of ‘All change! this train terminates here’. And we hope that you will agree that the direction our national cinema goes in at the moment is a rather good one. A Romanian political analyst was saying shortly after the 1989 Revolution that it would take some 20 years for real change to be seen and felt – it’s 2009, and in the case of film, we have to admit the man was right.

We want to demonstrate through our festivals that Romanian cinema can be both national and have an international appeal. With support from film professionals such as our curator Verena, directors like Sir Richard Eyre (who opened the 2008 Festival) and Jack Gold, and film critic Ian Haydn Smith (host of the Q&A sessions for ‘The Other Irene’ and ‘Exchange’ on Saturday 2 May) it is clear that Romanian film enjoys in Britain the recognition it rightfully deserves.

We are going to finish this (longish) editorial by announcing the winners of the three pairs of tickets of the Opening Night screening: Emma Gibson, Kathryn Cassidy, Beatrice Boussard. The winners have been selected through a raffle from all the correct answers to the question in our first Festival competition.

We also have to mention our dedicated band of volunteers, who are updating blogs and Facebook profiles, are Twittering around the internet, and are spreading leaflets and brochures throughout London: Oana Camilleri, Manuela Tise, Adina Istrate, Jo Hedesan, Cristina Licuta, Monica Madas.

This is it for now - See you at the Festival!

****

Dragi prieteni, Dear Friends,

We are very happy to present a new edition of our Film Festival. From our first event back in 2003, we have brought to London the very best films, and we are proud to have presented the works of directors such as Lucian Pintilie, Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, and the late Cristian Nemescu – to name but a few of the best known names.

Through its high level of achievement, Romanian cinema is probably our best export, raising the level of awareness on the subject of our country, its people and its culture. We are glad that, through our work, we can bring this cinematographic and cultural phenomenon to the attention of the London audience.

We have done this for the past six years, and we plan to continue to do so in the foreseeable future. As with every edition, we have a host of special guests in the Festival this time around, giving you the opportunity to meet and talk at first hand with some of the greatest names in Romanian film. Enjoy the Festival!

Nicolae Ratiu
Chairman, The Ratiu Foundation

Special guests from Romania will be attending selected screenings: actor and director Horatiu Malaele, screen legend Victor Rebengiuc, veteran director Stere Gulea, charismatic star Andi Vasluianu, and documentary film director Andrei Dascalescu.