Romanian film review: Movies by Dana Bunescu, award-winning film editor

...and the 2017 Oscar went to: well, not to Toni Erdmann. Romania hasn't scored the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, as very much hoped, but it has won something even more remarkable (if I may dare to say so) at the International Film Festival Berlin (February 9 – 19). Dana Bunescu, the editor of competition title Ana, Mon Amour, was awarded the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

Călin Peter Netzer's drama Ana, Mon Amour premiered in Romania on Friday, so stay tuned for its review on Romania-Insider.com. What I can say without giving anything away is that the film cuts constantly between different time sequences and it is credit to Bunescu's precise, flawless work that the story runs so fluently despite the non-linear narrative. She also worked with Netzer on his previous Berlinale winner in 2013, Child's Pose/Poziția copilului.

Getting back to the relevance of the prize, Dana Bunescu's award is particularly important because award ceremonies tend to spotlight directors, actors, producers, and at best cinematographers, just as mainstream discussions on cinema, for that matter. To have such a prestigious festival pay homage to a technical achievement next to the categories above is wonderful, and since film is a technical medium, absolutely necessary. And what a great choice to honour Bunescu, who has worked on the editing and sound design of some of the best Romanian films of the past decades.

Her previous hit was the multi-awarded Aferim! (2015), Radu Jude's visually ravishing take on the the slavery of Roma people in 19th century Wallachia. An irreverent, caustic road movie, this was an instant classic. Jude followed it with a film just as gorgeous in composition and sound, the literary adaptation Scarred Hearts/Inimi cicatrizate(2016), for which he teamed up with Bunescu again. Judging by these films alone, these two professionals are truly a match made in heaven.

A similarly impressive production is Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills/După dealuri(2012), a visually and narratively bleak story of the damages caused by superstition, religious fanaticism, ignorance, and institutional failing. A horror film, love story, and portrait of an ailing society,