The Romanians: 30 Years of Cinema Revolution

We are proud to partner with Making Waves in NY, Northwest Film Forum and SIFF to bring you a retrospective of Romanian cinema that will be touring the US between November 2019-May 2020, starting with Film Forum New York and BAMPFA Berkeley CA.

Spanning the 30 years since the 1989 Romanian Revolution, this comprehensive showcase is curated by Making Waves and presents 30 representative titles from the recent history of Romanian cinema, among which we picked a selection of films that have never been screened in Seattle.

History is the running theme in most films. In the 1990s, directors who found themselves freed from the tyranny of censorship rushed out in the open to tell stories from the recent past. In the following two decades, younger directors went back in time on their own terms and came up with a fresh perspective on the communist era. Even when they chronicled the present in sharp slices of life, the dark shadows of the past still permeated their contemporary stories, like familiar ghosts. In 2005, a three hour-long black comedy about a dying man, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (dir. Cristi Puiu)  was part of the birth of an artistic revolution that ignited an ever-growing international interest in an outstanding generation of filmmakers. It also triggered the rediscovery of past highlights which offered a genealogy for what critics came to call the Romanian New Wave.

Newer films dig into the more distant though equally relevant past, and there is also escapism, mostly in genre formats. But despite its apparent diversity, this vast retrospective works best as a history lesson served in the most entertaining form: movies.

Visit The Romanians: 30 Years Of Cinema Revolution for more details about the entire program of the retrospective.

The Romanians: 30 Years of Cinema Revolution is organized by the Making Waves Film Festival and Cinema Projects. Produced by Corina Șuteu and Oana Radu, and curated by Mihai Chirilov, David Schwartz (Cinema Projects) and Corina Șuteu. 

The U.S. Tour is made possible by the support of Adrian Ghenie, Șerban Savu and Galeria Plan B, Moebius Gallery, Alexandre Almajeanu and Gentica Foundation, Dacin Sara, and numerous individual donors.

CORONA VIRUS ALERT!!!!

This event was cancelled. We are now exploring the possibility of online screening. Thank you for your patience!

We hope our community will overcome these difficult times as soon as possible. STAY HEALTHY and protect the most vulnerable of us by keeping your social distance.