All Change! The Romanian Film Festival in London. 1-4 May 2009, 6th Edition. Curzon Mayfair Cinema.

Introductions

The sense of change, of time speeding by and history racing ahead is hard to ignore as we move into the 6th year of the Romanian Film Festival in London.

Not only is All Change! a reflection on the rapidly expanding talent that emerges from the recently hailed Romanian New Wave and beyond, with strong debut features and new work by established directors such as George Dorobantu (Elevator) and Nicolae Margineanu (Exchange) – the sense of change is equally visible in the films’ stories, often marked by themes of emigration, new economic challenges and emerging accounts from the communist past, many of them served with a good dose of humour.

This year, we will welcome a director who has been active for many decades, going through vast political changes and yet remaining a true master of the trade, Stere Gulea, whose acclaimed classic Morometii will make a rare visit to London’s big screen – where you can also catch his latest, the highly stylized contemporary drama Weekend with My Mother.

We’re very pleased to be opening the festival with the great tragicomedy Silent Wedding, by the well known actor-turned director Horatiu Malaele who is in perfect company with a cast that includes renowned actors such as Victor Rebengiuc and Luminita Gheorghiu.

Verena von Stackelberg
Festival Curator

Twenty years ago, few but those of very strong faith would have envisaged wide acclaim for Romanian cinema, not to mention film festivals dedicated to it in western capitals.

However, after a bloody revolution, the collapse of the film industry in the early 1990s, and endless years of transition, Romanian film came back to the forefront of international culture, convincing critics to hail an Eastern European New Wave.

In 2008 we screened a good number of directors living abroad, showing that a “national school” approach is not mandatory in the context of a Romanian film festival.

For All Change! we decided to have a non-Romanian curator, from the desire to grant to our programme a new and more than objective view, and to make a portrait of Romanian cinema as it is seen by its newly found, international fan-base.

All the films we present to you now have their unique Romanian flavour, but through their treatment of universal human problems and values, national and cultural barriers have become porous. We want you to see not only Romanian film, but truly great directors and great cinema.

Ramona Mitrica
Director, Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre