Romanian production selected in Premiers Plans d'Angers competition

Romanian director Vasile Todinca's short film Alișveriș has been selected in the European Shorts section of the Premiers Plans d'Angers festival, which runs until January 25.

The production was previously selected in the Semaine de la Critique section of last year's Cannes Film Festival.

The film follows Tatiana, an unemployed woman as she sells her personal belongings to keep a roof over her head.

Vasile Todinca studied theater and directing at the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, where he was mentored by Radu Jude. His 2018 graduation short film, Try Again, was selected for the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) and received the Best Script award at the OKaua Festival. Jackpot, another short he directed, alongside Vlad Popa, was selected at the Black Lights Festival in Tallinn.

Alișveriș is produced by Micro FILM, Avanpost, and Hi Film Productions.

Since 1989, approximately 100 young filmmakers have gathered each year in Angers to showcase their first works. Fatih Akin, Laurent Cantet, Arnaud Desplechin, Xavier Beauvois, Valérie Donzelli, Julia Ducournau, Matteo Garrone, Jessica Hausner, Joachim Lafosse, Noémie Lvovsky, Nick Park, Cristi Puiu, Paolo Sorrentino, Thomas Vinterberg, Justine Triet, or Thomas Cailley are among the directors who presented their films at the Angers event.

In the last ten years, two Romanian productions have been awarded at Premiers Plans d'Angers. Adi Voicu's The Fog received the Jury Prize in the European Shorts category in 2018, while Alexander Nanau's Toto and His Sisters won the Jury Prize in the European Feature category in 2015.

(Photo courtesy of ICR)