• News
• Business
• Society
• Life
• Discover Romania
• Regional
• Video
• Corporate

Out of the premieres, it was mostly the documentaries that had looked most promising, and the impression proved right. I saw Radu Jude's The Dead Nation/Țara moartă as work-in-progress this spring, just like Claudiu Mitcu and Ileana Bârsan's The Trial/Procesul. Now screened in their final forms, the former is outstanding and the latter very strong, also breaking the record for the longest discussion after a film, which lasted no less than 2.5 hours. Another remarkable production (and much-awaited) was Alexandru Solomon's brilliant (and brilliantly titled) Tarzan's Testicles/Ouăle lui Tarzan, having a most bizarre subject: a research centre in Abkhazia founded in the 1920s by a Russian scientist who wanted to create a human-ape hybrid.

The features, although less impressive than the docs above, were interesting pieces: Alexandra Bâlteanu's promising debut Prowl/Vânătoare, Dan Chișu's family reunion dramedy The Anniversary/Aniversarea, and Iulia Rugină's thriller Breaking News. Out of the section and competition, but also a new Romanian film (in co-production with France, Canada, and the US), was Radu Mihăileanu's epic, time-hopping The History of Love/Povesteaiubirii. The short films were less exciting than last year, and the only standout was also the winner of the section, Adrian Silișteanu's Written/Unwritten (Scris/nescris), a sensitive story of a Roma family confronted with state bureaucracy.

Particularly moving were the homage screenings of Romanian classics, such as Cristian Nemescu's beautiful California Dreamin' (Endless), in the presence of the-one-and-only Armand Assante, also starring in the new Romanian horror flick The Wanderers (if you were lucky enough, you could meet Assante on his strolls around the city; one of many TIFF's charms).

The screening of the director's cut of Mircea Săucan's The One Hundred Bill/Suta de lei (1973) was particularly emotional, not only because it gathered all its four leads on stage, but also because its own tragic story: the film upset the communist censorship authority so much that it ordered its rolls to be burned; they could be saved, thankfully, but one of its producers died from a heartache in the turmoil of the huge scandal. A wonderful film and – like everything that Săucan did – unmistakably experimental and unique in Romanian cinema.

That being said, I've not only started counting the days to TIFF 2018, but also to the following months, in which most of the titles above will be released theatrically. The first one is The Story of Love, so stay tuned for its review in a few days.

(photo source: TIFF website/Nicu Cherciu)