Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema announces lineup

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Romanian Film Initiative announced the 10th Edition of Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema (December 2-7), which has been hailed by The New York Times as one of the “annual treasures” of the Film Society’s programming. This year’s festival offers a selection of the best in contemporary Romanian filmmaking, including features, documentaries, and shorts, along with classic and landmark films, panels, and other special programs focusing on the work of Romanian filmmakers. For the third consecutive year, select films will also screen at the Jacob Burns Film Center, from December 3-8.

“We’re pleased to welcome back Making Waves for its 10th anniversary edition,” said Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming. “It has been yet another banner year for Romanian cinema, and we’re looking forward to presenting this rich and varied selection of new work alongside some old favorites.”

The festival’s artistic director Mihai Chirilov stated: “Revisiting classic titles such as The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu and California Dreamin’ (Endless) and honoring Mircea Daneliuc, an influential master of the Romanian cinema, make for an extremely exciting 10-year anniversary—of both the festival and the Romanian New Wave breakthrough in the U.S. And this year there are enough great new titles not only to enhance such a rounded celebration but also to reinforce a cinematic trend that hasn’t lost any of its power to surprise and impress.”

Titles fresh from Cannes and Berlin lead the slate of new features, including Corneliu Porumboiu‘s The Treasure; Radu Jude’s Aferim!; Radu Muntean’s subtle morality play, One Floor Below; and Why Me?, the Sidney Lumet–esque political thriller by Tudor Giurgiu, based on real events.

This year’s festival will feature a special tribute screening of Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (2005), commemorating the 10th Anniversary of Making Waves. A seminal title of the Romanian New Wave, this dark comedy was presented at the first edition of the festival in 2006 and took American critics by storm, helping to establish Romania as a major player in the international landscape of contemporary art cinema.

Making Waves will also present a tribute to one of Romania’s greatest filmmakers, Mircea Daneliuc, whose work inspired the Romanian New Wave and who will join the festival as this year’s special guest. With a career spanning four decades, 17 features (writing 16 of them) and 11 movie roles, plus several plays, novels, and short stories, Daneliuc has amassed an oeuvre of subversive films anchored in reality but showcasing a mordant dark humor and unrelenting satire. Daneliuc’s uncompromising Intimate Bed will ignite Making Waves’ 10th edition as the Opening Night film.

Completing this exciting lineup are Alexander Nanau’s raw survival documentary Toto and His Sisters and a selection of short films, including the newest from Cristi Puiu and Ramona, the Cannes prize-winning noir.

The 2015 Edition of Making Waves will also feature panels, special guests, and a continuation of the Creative Freedom Through Cinema program, which examines the relationship between art and politics in Eastern Europe, and will spotlight films from Georgia and the Republic of Moldova Georgia is experiencing a cinematic renaissance thanks to recent festival hits such as Blind Dates and In Bloom, while Moldova is a place rarely seen on screen—although it gave us Oleg Mutu, one of the most acclaimed cinematographers in the world, who has collaborated with esteemed directors like Cristian Mungiu and Sergey Loznitsa. Both countries are represented in this year’s program with films about survival in the harshest conditions: George Ovashvili‘s top prize winner in Karlovy Vary Corn Island and Igor Cobileanski‘s The Unsaved, which features Mutu’s impressive camerawork.

Guests of this year’s festival include directors Mircea Daneliuc, Tudor Giurgiu, Dan Chișu,Oana Giurgiu, Andrei Crețulescu, Luiza Pârvu, and Andreea Vălean; actors Cecilia Bârbora,Andi Vasluianu, Emilian Oprea, and Mihai Constantin; and producers Ada Solomon,Codruța Crețulescu, and Toma Peiu.

The complete 2015 Making Waves lineup is as follows:

New Releases (Fiction, Documentary and Shorts)

• Aferim!, d. Radu Jude
• The Treasure, d. Corneliu Porumboiu
• Why Me?, Tudor Giurgiu
• One Floor Below, d. Radu Muntean
• București Nonstop, d. Dan Chișu
• The World Is Mine, d. Nicolae Constantin Tănase
• Toto and His Sisters, d. Alexander Nanau
• Aliyah DaDa, d. Oana Giurgiu
• Trading Germans, d. Răzvan Georgescu
• New Romanian Shorts
• Black Friday, d. Roxana Stroe
• Omulan!, d. Matei Branea
• Start Anew World (O lume nouă), d. Luiza Pârvu
• There’s Nothing in This World (Nu există-n lumea asta), d. Andreea Vălean
• Das Spektrum Europas, d. Cristi Puiu
• Tie (Scor alb), d. Marius Olteanu
• The Message (Mesagerul), d. Radu Potcoavă
• Ramona, d. Andrei Crețulescu

Celebrating 10 Years of Making Waves: A Festival Retrospective

• The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu), d. Cristi Puiu
• California Dreamin’ (Endless) (California Dreamin’ (nesfîrșit)), d. Cristian Nemescu

Director in Focus: Mircea Daneliuc

• The Cruise (Croaziera)
• Intimate Bed (Patul conjugal)
• The Snails’ Senator (Senatorul melcilor)

This focus, presented at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will be complemented by two titles screening at the Jacob Burns Film Center: Microphone Test (Probă de microfon), andJacob (Iacob).

Creative Freedom Through Cinema. Guest Countries: Georgia and the Republic of Moldova

• Corn Island (Simindis Kundzuli), d. George Ovashvili, Georgia
• The Unsaved (La limita de jos a cerului), d. Igor Cobileanschi, Romania/Republic of Moldova

FULL DETAILS, HERE.