BBC Buys HBO Max Thriller ‘Spy/Master’
The BBC has acquired HBO Max thriller Spy/Master as it continues to beef up its iPlayer offering. Acquired from Warner Bros. Discovery, the show stars Happy Valley’s Alec Secăreanu as the most trusted advisor to Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu. With his government poised to uncover that he’s a secret agent for the Soviets, Godeanu uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to defect to the U.S. The series also stars Aidan McArdle, Ana Ularu (Who Is Erin Carter?), Laurențiu Bănescu (Boss), Andreea Vasile (Umbre), Nico Mirallegro (Our Girl), lulian Postelnicu (Arest) and Elvira Deatcu (Clanul). “A classic spy drama set at the height of the Cold War, Spy/Master is an atmospheric, complex thriller, dripping with style and suspense,” said Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition. The show was nominated for the inaugural...
The BBC has acquired HBO Max thriller Spy/Master as it continues to beef up its iPlayer offering. Acquired from Warner Bros. Discovery, the show stars Happy Valley’s Alec Secăreanu as the most trusted advisor to Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu. With his government poised to uncover that he’s a secret agent for the Soviets, Godeanu uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to defect to the U.S. The series also stars Aidan McArdle, Ana Ularu (Who Is Erin Carter?), Laurențiu Bănescu (Boss), Andreea Vasile (Umbre), Nico Mirallegro (Our Girl), lulian Postelnicu (Arest) and Elvira Deatcu (Clanul). “A classic spy drama set at the height of the Cold War, Spy/Master is an atmospheric, complex thriller, dripping with style and suspense,” said Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition. The show was nominated for the inaugural...
- 3/27/2024
- by Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
For those who’ve had their fill of Hallmark movies and more traditional seasonal fare, The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual list of the best in international TV offers some binge alternatives for the lazy days between Christmas and New Year’s. There’re nary a Santa or sleighbells to be found among our picks of foreign series fare, but fans of global TV will find plenty to chew on over the holidays, whether it’s a political thriller set in Senegal, a Korean drama about mental health, or a bizarre Danish comedy-soap from an old arthouse master.
Colin from Accounts (Watch on: Paramount+) Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer in ‘Colin From Accounts.’
This charming and disarmingly cringe Aussie rom-com kicks off with one of the most original meet-cutes in the genre: Gordon (Patrick Brammall) stops his car to let Ashley (Harriet Dyer) cross the street. In a cheeky thank you,...
Colin from Accounts (Watch on: Paramount+) Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer in ‘Colin From Accounts.’
This charming and disarmingly cringe Aussie rom-com kicks off with one of the most original meet-cutes in the genre: Gordon (Patrick Brammall) stops his car to let Ashley (Harriet Dyer) cross the street. In a cheeky thank you,...
- 12/22/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In “Familiar,” Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer follows Dragoş Binder, a film director, as he delves into the murky secrets of his family, and tries to exorcise the trauma of his childhood by making a film about it. Beta Cinema is handling world sales for the film, which has its world premiere this month at Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia.
In the film, Dragoş is trying to understand how his family were able to leave Romania in the early 80s, during the most oppressive period of Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule. Dragoş also seeks to discover the truth of the breakdown in the marriage between his father, Emil, and mother, Valentina, and the true nature of Valentina’s relationship with swimming instructor Harald Stern, a suspected informant for the secret police, the Securitate.
The trailer for “Familiar”
Emanuel Pârvu, who appeared in Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes award winner “Graduation,...
In the film, Dragoş is trying to understand how his family were able to leave Romania in the early 80s, during the most oppressive period of Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule. Dragoş also seeks to discover the truth of the breakdown in the marriage between his father, Emil, and mother, Valentina, and the true nature of Valentina’s relationship with swimming instructor Harald Stern, a suspected informant for the secret police, the Securitate.
The trailer for “Familiar”
Emanuel Pârvu, who appeared in Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes award winner “Graduation,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Like a Fish on the Moon, the feature debut of Iranian writer-director Dornaz Hajiha, has won the Transilvania Trophy for best feature film at this year’s festival, marking the first time in the event’s 22-year history that Transilvania International Film Festival’s top award went to a female director.
The film follows new parents who are forced to adapt when their apparently healthy son suddenly stops talking.
“The film we have chosen impressed us for the originality of its premise, the power of its performances and the intelligence with which it explored very difficult subject matter,” Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, the jury president, said in a statement. “The director demonstrated great attention to detail and an impressive, singular vision. We were also impressed by the script, which captured the often conflicting pressures of parenthood, the brutality of devotion. It is a film that resonated long after it ended.
The film follows new parents who are forced to adapt when their apparently healthy son suddenly stops talking.
“The film we have chosen impressed us for the originality of its premise, the power of its performances and the intelligence with which it explored very difficult subject matter,” Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, the jury president, said in a statement. “The director demonstrated great attention to detail and an impressive, singular vision. We were also impressed by the script, which captured the often conflicting pressures of parenthood, the brutality of devotion. It is a film that resonated long after it ended.
- 6/19/2023
- by Stjepan Hundic
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iranian filmmaker Dornaz Hajiha took home the top prize Saturday at the Transilvania Film Festival, as the jury awarded the first-time director with the Transilvania Trophy for “Like a Fish on the Moon,” a moving family drama about two parents coping with the emotional fallout when their young son suddenly stops talking.
In the jury’s citation, Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco highlighted “the originality of its premise, the power of its performances, and the intelligence with which it explored very difficult subject matter,” describing “Like a Fish on the Moon” as “a film that resonated long after it ended.”
Hajiha was visibly moved as she took the stage to accept the award, which was presented to her by Transilvania Lifetime Achievement Award winner Geoffrey Rush moments after the Australian actor delivered an impassioned and at times whimsical tribute to the power of cinema.
“It’s such an honor to get...
In the jury’s citation, Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco highlighted “the originality of its premise, the power of its performances, and the intelligence with which it explored very difficult subject matter,” describing “Like a Fish on the Moon” as “a film that resonated long after it ended.”
Hajiha was visibly moved as she took the stage to accept the award, which was presented to her by Transilvania Lifetime Achievement Award winner Geoffrey Rush moments after the Australian actor delivered an impassioned and at times whimsical tribute to the power of cinema.
“It’s such an honor to get...
- 6/18/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
A passionate friendship spanning a turbulent decade marked by two unlikely uprisings forms the emotional heart of “Between Revolutions,” Romanian filmmaker Vlad Petri’s powerful hybrid documentary that plays this week at the Transilvania Film Festival.
Using extensive archival footage, Petri’s sophomore feature depicts the intense bond forged between two young women studying medicine in Bucharest in the 1970s. When political turmoil begins to sweep across Iran, their lives are drawn apart, as the Iranian-born Zahra is forced to return home, leaving her Romanian friend Maria behind.
Over the next decade, the two women maintain their connection through a series of letters, chronicling their struggles as women fighting for a voice while their respective countries move in divergent directions.
Since premiering in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum strand, where it won the Fipresci Award, the film has enjoyed an extended festival run, including stops at Cph:dox, Zagreb Doc,...
Using extensive archival footage, Petri’s sophomore feature depicts the intense bond forged between two young women studying medicine in Bucharest in the 1970s. When political turmoil begins to sweep across Iran, their lives are drawn apart, as the Iranian-born Zahra is forced to return home, leaving her Romanian friend Maria behind.
Over the next decade, the two women maintain their connection through a series of letters, chronicling their struggles as women fighting for a voice while their respective countries move in divergent directions.
Since premiering in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum strand, where it won the Fipresci Award, the film has enjoyed an extended festival run, including stops at Cph:dox, Zagreb Doc,...
- 6/12/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
If you are a secret agent, there is a risk that your loved ones face. This doesn’t necessarily mean their deaths, but the torture they are made to undergo to pry out whatever they know of the person in question is terrifying. After the events of Spy/Master episode 4, Ileana and her mother are under 24-hour supervision by the Romanian government. Meanwhile, Victor still hasn’t received his green light from President Carter. And to add to the chaos, there is the rumor of a bomb making rounds somewhere with the aim of disrupting the Camp David peace talks. Victor has to remove not only himself but his daughter as well. Will he be successful? He will have to hurry because Mircea and Carmen are planning to take him down. This is Episode 5 of Spy/Master.
Spoilers Ahead
Activation
Under President Nicolae Ceausescu’s wife Elena’s orders, Ileana is being...
Spoilers Ahead
Activation
Under President Nicolae Ceausescu’s wife Elena’s orders, Ileana is being...
- 6/11/2023
- by Shubhabrata Dutta
- Film Fugitives
If an agent defecting wasn’t enough, now there is a possibility of an imminent attack in Romania. Episode 4 of Spy/Master shows the ripples that are formed as a result of Victor’s defection. The Romanian intelligence, the Germans, and the Americans are all involved in it, and all are freaked out. On the other hand, there is the explosion that only Ingrid’s maid, Safiya, knows about. How long will it take before the authorities find out about the explosion?
Spoilers Ahead
Welcome
Victor is brought to the American Embassy (probably) in Germany, or some hidden base, where he finds his daughter’s picture missing. But that’s apparently not of any importance now, as it is doubtful whether he will see Ileana again. However, if the photo is found inside the jacket that was recovered from the Rhine by the police, they might arrive at his house. But...
Spoilers Ahead
Welcome
Victor is brought to the American Embassy (probably) in Germany, or some hidden base, where he finds his daughter’s picture missing. But that’s apparently not of any importance now, as it is doubtful whether he will see Ileana again. However, if the photo is found inside the jacket that was recovered from the Rhine by the police, they might arrive at his house. But...
- 6/4/2023
- by Shubhabrata Dutta
- Film Fugitives
From a key in a bar of soap to a note in a cigarette case to a passport in the Rhine, Episode 3 of Spy/Master hits the Nos on the plotline. This episode picks up from the events of two days ago when we saw Victor and Frank inside the church. The events taking place in the present will probably resume in the next episode. In this one, Victor’s profession gives him a run for his money. Will he manage to escape? If yes, then at what cost?
Spoilers Ahead
The Unsafe Safehouse
Frank brings Victor to a safe house and introduces him to his very familiar-looking 27-year-old lookout, John Miller. The apartment is his. The building should have been empty if not for an old lady who lives on the ground floor. Victor has to remain hidden until Frank gets the green light from Scott to bring him in.
Spoilers Ahead
The Unsafe Safehouse
Frank brings Victor to a safe house and introduces him to his very familiar-looking 27-year-old lookout, John Miller. The apartment is his. The building should have been empty if not for an old lady who lives on the ground floor. Victor has to remain hidden until Frank gets the green light from Scott to bring him in.
- 5/27/2023
- by Shubhabrata Dutta
- Film Fugitives
Spy/Master tells the story of Victor Godeanu, the fictional aide of real former Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu. A Kgb mole, Victor has been selling secrets to the Russians for 15 years until now. Roman counterintelligence gets the scent of his acts. With them on his tail, he has to find a way to get out of Romania and decides to defect to America. It is a race against time for him. Will he be able to take his family and move to America, or will the Romanians find him and bring him to justice? Let’s find out.
Spoilers Ahead
A Mole Defect
In Bucharest, Romania, Victor Godeanu, the personal security advisor of Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and Deputy Chief of Romania’s foreign intelligence service, realizes that someone [a bald guy] is following him as he gets onto a train to Bonn, West Germany. He arrives at the American Embassy in Bonn to...
Spoilers Ahead
A Mole Defect
In Bucharest, Romania, Victor Godeanu, the personal security advisor of Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and Deputy Chief of Romania’s foreign intelligence service, realizes that someone [a bald guy] is following him as he gets onto a train to Bonn, West Germany. He arrives at the American Embassy in Bonn to...
- 5/20/2023
- by Shubhabrata Dutta
- Film Fugitives
Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu is a master of the slow-burn drama. His careful cinematic style — using wide master shots and long takes, allowing the action to play out within the frame without edits — is put to service in exploring complex, hot-button social issues — abortion in his 2007 Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, state corruption in 2016’s Graduation — with a calm, almost scientific precision.
Mungiu’s latest, R.M.N., takes this scientific approach literally. The title is the Romanian acronym for an Mri, which one of the characters receives in the film, and the movie, which hits U.S. cinemas on April 28, is Mungiu’s cinematic brain scan of his country, revealing the layers of illness — racial, social, political, and above all emotional — buried in the national psyche.
The plot, inspired by real events, takes place over the Christmas holidays in a small village in Transylvania. Matthias (Marin Grigore), a slaughterhouse worker,...
Mungiu’s latest, R.M.N., takes this scientific approach literally. The title is the Romanian acronym for an Mri, which one of the characters receives in the film, and the movie, which hits U.S. cinemas on April 28, is Mungiu’s cinematic brain scan of his country, revealing the layers of illness — racial, social, political, and above all emotional — buried in the national psyche.
The plot, inspired by real events, takes place over the Christmas holidays in a small village in Transylvania. Matthias (Marin Grigore), a slaughterhouse worker,...
- 4/28/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HBO Max will officially be replaced by Warner Bros. Discovery on May 23 with a new and improved service called Max. However, that doesn’t mean the service is scrimping on content until then. One of the biggest new releases of the month is the new limited series “White House Plumbers,” which will premiere on May 1. Starring Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt and Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy, the pair portray two real-life Watergate burglars and Nixon saboteurs who ended up destroying the very president they desperately wanted to serve.
Check out the “White House Plumbers” trailer:
The platform will head to the pitch on May 16 with a three-part soccer docuseries “Angel City.” The series goes behind the scenes with the groundbreaking Los Angeles-based professional women’s soccer team, Angel City Football Club. It reveals the origin story through the 2022 inaugural season of the female-founded and led team — including owners and investors Uzo Aduba,...
Check out the “White House Plumbers” trailer:
The platform will head to the pitch on May 16 with a three-part soccer docuseries “Angel City.” The series goes behind the scenes with the groundbreaking Los Angeles-based professional women’s soccer team, Angel City Football Club. It reveals the origin story through the 2022 inaugural season of the female-founded and led team — including owners and investors Uzo Aduba,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Fern Siegel
- The Streamable
“That’s life” is often heard throughout Lucian Pintilie’s adaptation of Ion Băieșu’s novel The Oak. It’s such a sweeping response to the grotesqueries that mark everyday life amid the death throes of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, during which the film is set, that it practically becomes a shibboleth. The words may seem little more than a verbal shrug, but in the mouths of Pintilie’s characters, full to bursting with lust for life, they express a liberatory side of absurdism that goes beyond mere politics. That the meaning and the mechanisms of their lives are unknowable is as much cause for jubilation as despair.
Fittingly, The Oak opens with a death—that of Truica (Virgil Andriescu), former colonel in the Securitate (Romania’s secret police agency during its communist regime) and father to Nela (Maia Morgenstern), the film’s protagonist. As his caretaker, Nela projects for him...
Fittingly, The Oak opens with a death—that of Truica (Virgil Andriescu), former colonel in the Securitate (Romania’s secret police agency during its communist regime) and father to Nela (Maia Morgenstern), the film’s protagonist. As his caretaker, Nela projects for him...
- 4/24/2023
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
Max Original international series Spy/Master debuts Friday, May 19 with the first two episodes, which had their world premiere at Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Series in February. Created by Adina Sădeanu and Kirsten Peters, the six-part espionage drama series starring Alec Secăreanu continues with one new episode debuting weekly leading up to the season finale on June 16.
Logline: Spy/Master is set during the height of the Cold War and covers a week in the life of fictional character Victor Godeanu, played by Secăreanu, the right-hand man and closest advisor to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. However, Godeanu is also a secret agent for the Kgb and must escape Romania and Ceaușescu before his cover is blown. With only one shot at staying alive, he uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to the United States. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and former flame played by Svenja Jung (“Deutschland...
Logline: Spy/Master is set during the height of the Cold War and covers a week in the life of fictional character Victor Godeanu, played by Secăreanu, the right-hand man and closest advisor to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. However, Godeanu is also a secret agent for the Kgb and must escape Romania and Ceaușescu before his cover is blown. With only one shot at staying alive, he uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to the United States. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and former flame played by Svenja Jung (“Deutschland...
- 4/19/2023
- by Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
During her 70-year reign, the late Queen Elizabeth II got to meet world leaders from numerous countries. Some of those leaders also happened to be controversial figures who were not popular with United Kingdom citizens.
Although the queen never publicly shared her thoughts on the people she met, there is a story of a time when she hid in a bush to avoid talking to a dictator.
Royals are expected to be politically neutral
Queen Elizabeth meets Sturgeon after new push for independence vote https://t.co/TIgyDuoTLx pic.twitter.com/sgdxlH3Kmk
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2022
Royals used to have a lot of political power, but nowadays, they are merely figureheads. As a result, they are expected to serve their people and remain politically neutral. It is rare to find royals publicly sharing their opinions on political issues and other divisive topics.
According to Metro, there is no law that...
Although the queen never publicly shared her thoughts on the people she met, there is a story of a time when she hid in a bush to avoid talking to a dictator.
Royals are expected to be politically neutral
Queen Elizabeth meets Sturgeon after new push for independence vote https://t.co/TIgyDuoTLx pic.twitter.com/sgdxlH3Kmk
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2022
Royals used to have a lot of political power, but nowadays, they are merely figureheads. As a result, they are expected to serve their people and remain politically neutral. It is rare to find royals publicly sharing their opinions on political issues and other divisive topics.
According to Metro, there is no law that...
- 4/18/2023
- by Tram Anh Ton Nu
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Following the news of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ unethical friendship with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, more details about the Texas real estate mogul have emerged, including a report that Crow is an avid collector of Adolf Hitler items.
The Washingtonian on Friday resurfaced a 2014 article by the Dallas Morning News where a tour of Crow’s Dallas-area mansion revealed the billionaire’s historical collection includes a startling amount of Nazi memorabilia, including a copy of Mein Kampf signed by the author himself, a pair of the failed artist-turned-dictator’s cityscape paintings,...
The Washingtonian on Friday resurfaced a 2014 article by the Dallas Morning News where a tour of Crow’s Dallas-area mansion revealed the billionaire’s historical collection includes a startling amount of Nazi memorabilia, including a copy of Mein Kampf signed by the author himself, a pair of the failed artist-turned-dictator’s cityscape paintings,...
- 4/8/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
HBO Max’s period drama “Spy/Master” is more John le Carré than Ian Fleming, state its creators. Following Victor Godeanu, a high-ranking officer in Romania’s secret service, advisor to president Nicolae Ceaușescu – and a spy – who decides to defect in 1978.
“As a child, I used to watch James Bond, which is a very cartoony version of espionage. It was something we really wanted to avoid. We wanted it to feel real,” says Kirsten Peters.
Adina Sădeanu adds: “John le Carré’s novels, for example ‘A Perfect Spy,’ are so complex. These characters run away from their own humanity. I have always wondered: How do they live? How do they wake up in the morning, after saying so many lies?”
For Sădeanu, her journalistic background – as well as Romanian roots – came in handy as well.
“Over the years, I met many people working in intelligence. They weren’t these ‘James Bond’ types,...
“As a child, I used to watch James Bond, which is a very cartoony version of espionage. It was something we really wanted to avoid. We wanted it to feel real,” says Kirsten Peters.
Adina Sădeanu adds: “John le Carré’s novels, for example ‘A Perfect Spy,’ are so complex. These characters run away from their own humanity. I have always wondered: How do they live? How do they wake up in the morning, after saying so many lies?”
For Sădeanu, her journalistic background – as well as Romanian roots – came in handy as well.
“Over the years, I met many people working in intelligence. They weren’t these ‘James Bond’ types,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Now firmly established as a key component of the Berlin Film Festival, this year’s Berlinale Series will welcome Italy’s “The Good Mothers,” Norway’s “Arkitekten” and “Dahaad,” about a female police officer dealing with misogyny and traditional Indian society while also chasing a possible serial killer.
“Why Try to Change Me Now” and “Agent,” Denmark’s answer to the French smash, will also be shown, joined by Australia’s “Bad Behavior” – made by Matchbox Pictures, also behind Yvonne Strahovski and Cate Blanchett starrer “Stateless” – and HBO Max drama “Spy/Master,” all vying for the newly established Berlinale Series Award. Already announced eco-thriller “The Swarm” will debut out of competition.
“Stories with a reasonable budget – that’s certainly a new trend coming from commissioners,” said Julia Fidel, head of Berlinale Series.
“It’s no longer all about dramas that will cost ridiculous amounts of money. The argument is that people value good ideas,...
“Why Try to Change Me Now” and “Agent,” Denmark’s answer to the French smash, will also be shown, joined by Australia’s “Bad Behavior” – made by Matchbox Pictures, also behind Yvonne Strahovski and Cate Blanchett starrer “Stateless” – and HBO Max drama “Spy/Master,” all vying for the newly established Berlinale Series Award. Already announced eco-thriller “The Swarm” will debut out of competition.
“Stories with a reasonable budget – that’s certainly a new trend coming from commissioners,” said Julia Fidel, head of Berlinale Series.
“It’s no longer all about dramas that will cost ridiculous amounts of money. The argument is that people value good ideas,...
- 1/16/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
In writing the harrowing story of a Romanian stowaway trying to reach America aboard a cargo ship while hiding from merciless Taiwanese officers, Mihai Mincan found inspiration in the overwhelming fear that he once felt in his own dire predicament.
“To the North,” which screens in competition at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, is loosely based on the 1996 Maersk Dubai incident, in which the captain and officers of a Taiwanese container ship murdered three stowaways on two consecutive voyages by throwing them overboard. Crew members saved a fourth stowaway, keeping him hidden until they reached their destination.
It was cinematographer George Chiper-Lillemark (“Immaculate”) who first told Mincan about the incident.
“At first I didn’t know what to do with the story,” the writer-director recalls. “But a few years later it just clicked. I said, okay, I can make this film about what I feel; this is a film about fear:...
“To the North,” which screens in competition at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, is loosely based on the 1996 Maersk Dubai incident, in which the captain and officers of a Taiwanese container ship murdered three stowaways on two consecutive voyages by throwing them overboard. Crew members saved a fourth stowaway, keeping him hidden until they reached their destination.
It was cinematographer George Chiper-Lillemark (“Immaculate”) who first told Mincan about the incident.
“At first I didn’t know what to do with the story,” the writer-director recalls. “But a few years later it just clicked. I said, okay, I can make this film about what I feel; this is a film about fear:...
- 11/14/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Fresh off winning the award for best director in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar, Alexandru Belc returns to his native Romania with “Metronom,” which will receive an open-air screening in the historic Piata Unirii (Unity Square) at the Transilvania Film Festival.
A coming-of-age story about a young woman grown disillusioned with her first love, the ‘70s-set period drama reflects the difficult choices Romanians were forced to make under communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, whose gradual clampdown on civil liberties led to a wider unraveling of the social fabric. Variety’s Jessica Kiang wrote that Belc’s incisive feature deftly explores “how insidiously even the young – those most inclined toward rebellion and optimistic self-expression in any society – can be made to fall in step with authoritarianism’s joyless, frogmarching beat.”
Though “Metronom” marks his fiction feature directorial debut, Belc cut his teeth as a script supervisor and assistant...
A coming-of-age story about a young woman grown disillusioned with her first love, the ‘70s-set period drama reflects the difficult choices Romanians were forced to make under communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, whose gradual clampdown on civil liberties led to a wider unraveling of the social fabric. Variety’s Jessica Kiang wrote that Belc’s incisive feature deftly explores “how insidiously even the young – those most inclined toward rebellion and optimistic self-expression in any society – can be made to fall in step with authoritarianism’s joyless, frogmarching beat.”
Though “Metronom” marks his fiction feature directorial debut, Belc cut his teeth as a script supervisor and assistant...
- 6/15/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Big World Pictures has picked up Romanian auteur Radu Jude’s “Uppercase Print,” which premiered last year in the Berlinale’s Forum section. The sale was handled by Brussels-based Best Friend Forever. The director’s “Bad Luck Banging” won the 2021 Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
An adaptation of a 2013 play, “Tipografic majuscul” by Romanian playwright Gianina Carbunariu, the film tells the true story of high school student Mugur Călinescu who was arrested in the early 1980s by Romania’s secret police agency for graffiti criticizing the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Jude intercuts contemporaneous footage of advertisements, music videos and propaganda films asserting both the basic wholesomeness and banality of the culture with excerpts from the play showing the repressive mechanisms of the state at work. The effect is both disorienting and devastating.
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Jude and Big World, following “Aferim!” (2015), “Scarred Hearts” (2017) and...
An adaptation of a 2013 play, “Tipografic majuscul” by Romanian playwright Gianina Carbunariu, the film tells the true story of high school student Mugur Călinescu who was arrested in the early 1980s by Romania’s secret police agency for graffiti criticizing the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Jude intercuts contemporaneous footage of advertisements, music videos and propaganda films asserting both the basic wholesomeness and banality of the culture with excerpts from the play showing the repressive mechanisms of the state at work. The effect is both disorienting and devastating.
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Jude and Big World, following “Aferim!” (2015), “Scarred Hearts” (2017) and...
- 8/3/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
LGBTQ drama played Miami after Tallinn world premiere.
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to LGBTQ drama Poppy Field, Romanian theatre director Eugen Jebelenu’s feature debut that screened recently at Miami International Film Festival.
‘Poppy Field’: Tallinn Review
The film stars Conrad Mericoffer as a closeted Romanian policeman struggling with his role as a policeman in a macho environment.
Challenges ensue when his long-distance French boyfriend visits as the officer faces being outed when he intervenes at a cinema where a homophobic ultra-nationalist group has interrupted the screening of a queer film.
Poppy Field received its North...
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to LGBTQ drama Poppy Field, Romanian theatre director Eugen Jebelenu’s feature debut that screened recently at Miami International Film Festival.
‘Poppy Field’: Tallinn Review
The film stars Conrad Mericoffer as a closeted Romanian policeman struggling with his role as a policeman in a macho environment.
Challenges ensue when his long-distance French boyfriend visits as the officer faces being outed when he intervenes at a cinema where a homophobic ultra-nationalist group has interrupted the screening of a queer film.
Poppy Field received its North...
- 3/19/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
LGBTQ drama played Miami after Tallinn world premiere.
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to LGBTQ drama Poppy Field, Romanian theatre director Eugen Jebelenu’s feature debut that screened recently at Miami International Film Festival.
The film stars Conrad Mericoffer as a closeted Romanian policeman struggling with his role as a policeman in a macho environment.
Challenges ensue when his long-distance French boyfriend visits as the officer faces being outed when he intervenes at a cinema where a homophobic ultra-nationalist group has interrupted the screening of a queer film.
Poppy Field received its North American premiere in Miami earlier...
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to LGBTQ drama Poppy Field, Romanian theatre director Eugen Jebelenu’s feature debut that screened recently at Miami International Film Festival.
The film stars Conrad Mericoffer as a closeted Romanian policeman struggling with his role as a policeman in a macho environment.
Challenges ensue when his long-distance French boyfriend visits as the officer faces being outed when he intervenes at a cinema where a homophobic ultra-nationalist group has interrupted the screening of a queer film.
Poppy Field received its North American premiere in Miami earlier...
- 3/19/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Integral to my film are the concrete walls around the Bucharest Delta, the place where most of the action of Acasa, My Home is happening. The story of the walls around the Bucharest Delta starts with the plan of Nicolae Ceausescu, the former Romanian communist dictator, to build the largest artificial […]...
- 1/26/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Integral to my film are the concrete walls around the Bucharest Delta, the place where most of the action of Acasa, My Home is happening. The story of the walls around the Bucharest Delta starts with the plan of Nicolae Ceausescu, the former Romanian communist dictator, to build the largest artificial […]...
- 1/26/2020
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Best Friend Forever boards sales on Radu Jude’s Berlinale Forum title ‘Uppercase Print’ (exclusive)
Feature tells true story of student arrested by Communist Romania’s secret services after challenging regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Brussels-based sales company Best Friend Forever (Bff) has boarded world sales on Romanian director Radu Jude’s new political drama Uppercase Print ahead of its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum section.
An adaptation of 2013 play Typographic Capital Letters by Romanian playwright Gianina Carbunariu, it tells the true story of high school student Mugur Călinescu who was arrested in the early 1980s by Romania’s secret police agency, or Securitate, for graffiti criticising the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Brussels-based sales company Best Friend Forever (Bff) has boarded world sales on Romanian director Radu Jude’s new political drama Uppercase Print ahead of its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum section.
An adaptation of 2013 play Typographic Capital Letters by Romanian playwright Gianina Carbunariu, it tells the true story of high school student Mugur Călinescu who was arrested in the early 1980s by Romania’s secret police agency, or Securitate, for graffiti criticising the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
- 1/21/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The strand’s 50th anniversary to open with a previously unfinished film by late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-March 1) has revealed the 35 films in this year’s Forum line-up, including 28 world premieres.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The strand aims to highlight challenging and thought-provoking filmmaking that brings together film with visual art, theatre and literature.
This year’s Forum will open with The Tango Of The Widower And Its Distorting Mirror from late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz and his widow Valeria Sarmiento.
Ruiz – a four-time Palme d’Or nominee who won...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-March 1) has revealed the 35 films in this year’s Forum line-up, including 28 world premieres.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The strand aims to highlight challenging and thought-provoking filmmaking that brings together film with visual art, theatre and literature.
This year’s Forum will open with The Tango Of The Widower And Its Distorting Mirror from late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz and his widow Valeria Sarmiento.
Ruiz – a four-time Palme d’Or nominee who won...
- 1/20/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The Christmas Gift, a short film by director Bogdan Muresanu about a father learning that his son has mailed a letter to Santa wishing to see Nicolae Ceausescu dead, nabbed the Best of the Festival prize at the Palm Springs ShortFest on Sunday.
The top jury awards at the Palm Springs ShortFest saw the best international short prize go to Guaxuma, a film by Nara Normande, which is centered on grains of sand in motion capturing happy childhood memories on the beach of a special friendship.
Meanwhile, the top jury award for best North American short went to King Wah (I Think ...
The top jury awards at the Palm Springs ShortFest saw the best international short prize go to Guaxuma, a film by Nara Normande, which is centered on grains of sand in motion capturing happy childhood memories on the beach of a special friendship.
Meanwhile, the top jury award for best North American short went to King Wah (I Think ...
- 6/24/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The Christmas Gift, a short film by director Bogdan Muresanu about a father learning that his son has mailed a letter to Santa wishing to see Nicolae Ceausescu dead, nabbed the Best of the Festival prize at the Palm Springs ShortFest on Sunday.
The top jury awards at the Palm Springs ShortFest saw the best international short prize go to Guaxuma, a film by Nara Normande, which is centered on grains of sand in motion capturing happy childhood memories on the beach of a special friendship.
Meanwhile, the top jury award for best North American short went to King Wah (I Think ...
The top jury awards at the Palm Springs ShortFest saw the best international short prize go to Guaxuma, a film by Nara Normande, which is centered on grains of sand in motion capturing happy childhood memories on the beach of a special friendship.
Meanwhile, the top jury award for best North American short went to King Wah (I Think ...
- 6/24/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cluj, Romania–More than a decade after a tide of critically acclaimed and award-winning features announced the arrival of the Romanian New Wave, the Transilvania Film Festival’s annual Romanian Days program continues to offer a vital and wide-ranging survey of the country’s dynamic film industry.
This year’s edition, which kicks off June 6, will present 15 features and 22 short films over the course of three days in Cluj, presenting what Tiff artistic director Mihai Chirilov calls “a recap of the best in Romanian cinema.”
A highlight this year will be the Romanian premiere of “The Whistlers,” which arrives in Cluj on the heels of its world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week. Corneliu Poromboiu’s latest feature is a noir-inspired crime thriller about a Romanian police inspector who gets entangled in a high-stakes heist that takes him to the Spanish island of La Gomera. Chirilov describes it as “a genre film,...
This year’s edition, which kicks off June 6, will present 15 features and 22 short films over the course of three days in Cluj, presenting what Tiff artistic director Mihai Chirilov calls “a recap of the best in Romanian cinema.”
A highlight this year will be the Romanian premiere of “The Whistlers,” which arrives in Cluj on the heels of its world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week. Corneliu Poromboiu’s latest feature is a noir-inspired crime thriller about a Romanian police inspector who gets entangled in a high-stakes heist that takes him to the Spanish island of La Gomera. Chirilov describes it as “a genre film,...
- 6/5/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes–The Transilvania Intl. Film Festival has announced a new Svod service, Tiff Unlimited, which will launch during the festival’s 18th edition, which bows May 31 in Cluj, Romania.
The service will curate titles from current and previous editions of the festival, while also showcasing other hand-picked auteur-driven productions, presented in partnership with local distributors. It will launch June 6 and be available across Romania.
“With all my colleagues from the festival, we thought we have to do something that will somehow extend the whole festival experience for all the year,” said director festival chief Tudor Giurgiu (pictured), whose latest feature, “Parking,” opens this year’s fest. “Yearly we are receiving emails from the public who say, ‘Oh, I missed that Russian film that won the audience award in your festival. Where am I going to see it?’ And I say, ‘Sorry, I don’t know where you can see the film,...
The service will curate titles from current and previous editions of the festival, while also showcasing other hand-picked auteur-driven productions, presented in partnership with local distributors. It will launch June 6 and be available across Romania.
“With all my colleagues from the festival, we thought we have to do something that will somehow extend the whole festival experience for all the year,” said director festival chief Tudor Giurgiu (pictured), whose latest feature, “Parking,” opens this year’s fest. “Yearly we are receiving emails from the public who say, ‘Oh, I missed that Russian film that won the audience award in your festival. Where am I going to see it?’ And I say, ‘Sorry, I don’t know where you can see the film,...
- 5/23/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Few Romanians will wax nostalgic about life before the fall of strongman Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed in 1989 after two decades of iron-fisted rule. But there was at least one industry that flourished under his Communist regime, with roughly 450 movie theaters operating across Romania at the time of the dictator’s death.
Cinema was an unexpected casualty of the country’s rough-and-tumble transition to democracy, when hundreds of theaters shuttered—many to reopen as bingo halls, pawn shops, nightclubs and churches. Admissions halved in the two decades after the fall of Communism, and Romania has the lowest rate of screen penetration in the E.U., according to a study released this year by the Council of Europe’s European Audiovisual Observatory, with nearly 60,000 inhabitants per screen—more than twice the number of neighboring Hungary, and roughly five times the number of cinephile France.
There’s been a cautious revival in recent years.
Cinema was an unexpected casualty of the country’s rough-and-tumble transition to democracy, when hundreds of theaters shuttered—many to reopen as bingo halls, pawn shops, nightclubs and churches. Admissions halved in the two decades after the fall of Communism, and Romania has the lowest rate of screen penetration in the E.U., according to a study released this year by the Council of Europe’s European Audiovisual Observatory, with nearly 60,000 inhabitants per screen—more than twice the number of neighboring Hungary, and roughly five times the number of cinephile France.
There’s been a cautious revival in recent years.
- 6/2/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The influence on today’s generation of Romanian filmmakers of local auteur Lucian Pintilie, who died earlier this month, is so profound it’s difficult to chart. But, Transilvania Film Festival chief and leading Romanian filmmaker Tudor Giurgiu says, his legacy will be felt for many years, and a tribute is planned for the event’s closing ceremony.
“I was his 1st Ad [first assistant director] in 1995 when working on ‘Too Late,’ which was screened in 1996 Cannes main competition,” Giurgiu recalls. “I learned everything from him – it was like attending a second film school.”
Pintilie’s first feature, “Sunday at 6 O’Clock,” a tragedy about two young communist lovers on the run in World War II, won him international attention in 1966.
Because of the director’s extensive background in theater, Giurgiu says, “Pintilie was an absolute master when working with actors. It was mesmerizing to observe how he achieved impressive performances by forcing...
“I was his 1st Ad [first assistant director] in 1995 when working on ‘Too Late,’ which was screened in 1996 Cannes main competition,” Giurgiu recalls. “I learned everything from him – it was like attending a second film school.”
Pintilie’s first feature, “Sunday at 6 O’Clock,” a tragedy about two young communist lovers on the run in World War II, won him international attention in 1966.
Because of the director’s extensive background in theater, Giurgiu says, “Pintilie was an absolute master when working with actors. It was mesmerizing to observe how he achieved impressive performances by forcing...
- 5/23/2018
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Director: Andrei Ujica Rendered in the artistic fashion of a Leni Riefenstahl documentary, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu features a magnificent and poetic montage of archival footage about Romania's fallen ruler nm0147476 autoNicolae Ceausescu[/link]. Autobiography begins on the final day of Ceausescu's life, with television footage of him and his wife undergoing a hastily organized two-hour court session prior to their execution on Christmas Day 1989. From there, director Andrei Ujica's documentary delves into a rich archival array of propagandistic footage with a recurring theme of pomp and circumstance as it chronicles Ceausescu's reign as the Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party (1965-1989) and Romania's head of state (1967-1989). Ceausescu's reign started off promising with an open policy towards Western Europe and the United States (thus deviating from the other Warsaw Pact states during the Cold War); he even actively and openly condemned the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the other Warsaw Pact forces.
- 10/7/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
We perceive documentaries as records of truth; these things happened, the camera recorded them. "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" is a record of a lie. Yes, these things happened, and yes, the camera recorded them. But why did they happen and how? And what was going on when the camera wasn't around? Because of its unusual structure, the film doesn't say. But attentive viewers will realize this "autobiography" presents an incomplete view of history.
It comes from the perspective of Nicolae Ceausescu, Communist dictator of Romania from 1967 to 1989. A man with a taste for the spotlight, Ceausescu rarely missed an opportunity for a photo opportunity, and he filled his nation's official archive with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of himself at work and play. The footage is extensive but not comprehensive: lots of speeches and meetings with foreign heads-of-state, occasional travels abroad or hunting expeditions, but no mentions of food...
It comes from the perspective of Nicolae Ceausescu, Communist dictator of Romania from 1967 to 1989. A man with a taste for the spotlight, Ceausescu rarely missed an opportunity for a photo opportunity, and he filled his nation's official archive with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of himself at work and play. The footage is extensive but not comprehensive: lots of speeches and meetings with foreign heads-of-state, occasional travels abroad or hunting expeditions, but no mentions of food...
- 9/10/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
NEW YORK -- The award-winning Romanian drama The Way I Spent The End of the World from exec producers Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders has been acquired for North American distribution by Film Movement.
Director Catalin Mitulescu's film won the 2005 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award and Un Certain Regard best actress award for star Doroteea Petre at the 2006 Festival de Cannes.
Petre plays Eva, a teenager who accidentally breaks a statue of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu with her 7-year-old brother during the last year of the leader's rule. After being prosecuted for the incident, she escapes the country, and her brother hatches a plan to assassinate the leader with his school friends.
Film Movement will distribute World exclusively to its DVD club members in July, followed by a first-quarter 2008 limited theatrical platform release and a home video release to retail and online outlets several months later.
The deal was negotiated by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein with Valentina Merli from Pyramide International.
Director Catalin Mitulescu's film won the 2005 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award and Un Certain Regard best actress award for star Doroteea Petre at the 2006 Festival de Cannes.
Petre plays Eva, a teenager who accidentally breaks a statue of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu with her 7-year-old brother during the last year of the leader's rule. After being prosecuted for the incident, she escapes the country, and her brother hatches a plan to assassinate the leader with his school friends.
Film Movement will distribute World exclusively to its DVD club members in July, followed by a first-quarter 2008 limited theatrical platform release and a home video release to retail and online outlets several months later.
The deal was negotiated by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein with Valentina Merli from Pyramide International.
- 6/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Christopher Plummer starrer Man In The Chair, Shane Meadows' skinhead drama This is England and Kidz in da Hood, a musical that looks at the life of illegal immigrants in Sweden, are among the first titles picked for the official lineup of the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival.
All three will screen in Berlin's children and youth sidebar, Generation (formerly Kinderfilmfest). 2007 will mark the 30th anniversary of Berlin's children's film section.
Other films chosen for the Generation Kplus (children) and Generation 14plus (youth) sections include Thai thriller Dorm, from Songyos Sugmakanan; "Bloede Mutze!" (Stupid Hat!), from German first-timer Johannes Schmid; Romanian director Catalin Mitulescu's "The Way I Spent the End of the World," a look at the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal regime; and Trigger, from Norwegian director Gunnar Vikene, which centers on a renegade racehorse.
Two animated features have made the cut: Estonian comedy Lotte from Gadgetville, from directors Heiki Ernits and Janno Poldma, and Gregoire Solotareff and Serge Elissalde's French animated fairytale "U," which bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year.
All three will screen in Berlin's children and youth sidebar, Generation (formerly Kinderfilmfest). 2007 will mark the 30th anniversary of Berlin's children's film section.
Other films chosen for the Generation Kplus (children) and Generation 14plus (youth) sections include Thai thriller Dorm, from Songyos Sugmakanan; "Bloede Mutze!" (Stupid Hat!), from German first-timer Johannes Schmid; Romanian director Catalin Mitulescu's "The Way I Spent the End of the World," a look at the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal regime; and Trigger, from Norwegian director Gunnar Vikene, which centers on a renegade racehorse.
Two animated features have made the cut: Estonian comedy Lotte from Gadgetville, from directors Heiki Ernits and Janno Poldma, and Gregoire Solotareff and Serge Elissalde's French animated fairytale "U," which bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year.
- 12/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COTTBUS, Germany -- Serbian director Oleg Novkovic scored a hat trick at the closing ceremony Saturday of the 16th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema as his gritty social drama Tomorrow Morning (Sutra Ujutru) took the main $19,000 prize for best film, the FIPRESCI critics nod and a new distribution support prize worth $13,000.
The film -- Serbia's official foreign language nomination for the 79th Academy Awards -- tells the story of a Serbian man who returns to Belgrade after the civil wars of the 1990s from self-imposed exile in Canada to marry a local woman.
Novkovic said it was a case of third time lucky -- the film was his third feature and it was the third time he had been to the festival.
"I'm beginning to feel as if I am part of Cottbus," he said to laughter from guests at the city's Stadthalle.
Romanian director Radu Muntean's acclaimed story of a militia man's decision to join the revolutionaries on the night Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989, The Paper Will Be Blue (HirtiaVa Fi Albastra), took special prize for best director.
The film -- Serbia's official foreign language nomination for the 79th Academy Awards -- tells the story of a Serbian man who returns to Belgrade after the civil wars of the 1990s from self-imposed exile in Canada to marry a local woman.
Novkovic said it was a case of third time lucky -- the film was his third feature and it was the third time he had been to the festival.
"I'm beginning to feel as if I am part of Cottbus," he said to laughter from guests at the city's Stadthalle.
Romanian director Radu Muntean's acclaimed story of a militia man's decision to join the revolutionaries on the night Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989, The Paper Will Be Blue (HirtiaVa Fi Albastra), took special prize for best director.
- 11/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COTTBUS, Germany -- Serbian director Oleg Novkovic scored a hat trick at the closing ceremony Saturday of the 16th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema as his gritty social drama Tomorrow Morning (Sutra Ujutru) took the main $19,000 prize for best film, the FIPRESCI critics nod and a new distribution support prize worth $13,000.
The film -- Serbia's official foreign language nomination for the 79th Academy Awards -- tells the story of a Serbian man who returns to Belgrade after the civil wars of the 1990s from self-imposed exile in Canada to marry a local woman.
Novkovic said it was a case of third time lucky -- the film was his third feature and it was the third time he had been to the festival.
"I'm beginning to feel as if I am part of Cottbus," he said to laughter from guests at the city's Stadthalle.
Romanian director Radu Muntean's acclaimed story of a militia man's decision to join the revolutionaries on the night Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989, The Paper Will Be Blue (HirtiaVa Fi Albastra), took special prize for best director.
The film -- Serbia's official foreign language nomination for the 79th Academy Awards -- tells the story of a Serbian man who returns to Belgrade after the civil wars of the 1990s from self-imposed exile in Canada to marry a local woman.
Novkovic said it was a case of third time lucky -- the film was his third feature and it was the third time he had been to the festival.
"I'm beginning to feel as if I am part of Cottbus," he said to laughter from guests at the city's Stadthalle.
Romanian director Radu Muntean's acclaimed story of a militia man's decision to join the revolutionaries on the night Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989, The Paper Will Be Blue (HirtiaVa Fi Albastra), took special prize for best director.
- 11/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO is kicking up more controversy over the location of his next movie - by arranging to shoot in executed Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's Palace. Environmentalists were up in arms after movie chiefs behind DiCaprio's last movie Beach, The (2000) chose the idyllic Thailand island of PHI PHI LE to film, importing hundreds of palm trees to the beauty spot. But DiCaprio doesn't seem put off by controversy - and he has signed on the dotted line to star in a new sci-fi movie this summer in Bucharest. He'll be shooting in the CEAUSESCU's home, where he and his wife ELENA were executed in the bloody anti-communist revolt in 1989. But although Romanian lawmakers at first rejected Miramax's proposal to shoot in the PEOPLE'S HOUSE - which now houses the Parliament - they've changed their minds. Vice president of the Deputies Chamber ANDREI CHILIMAN says those who initially opposed the project "suffer of some psychological blockages" connected to the building. Shooting for the film Librium (2000) will start in August.
- 4/12/2000
- WENN
Leonardo DiCaprio is to shoot a sci-fi film in Romania during the summer - with some scenes in the palace of hated former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu Ceausescu and his wife ELENA were executed in a bloody revolt in 1989. Now film makers MIRAMAX have been given the green light to shoot in the parliament building as well as other official institutions.
- 4/11/2000
- WENN
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.