Oscar-Worthy Films and a Master Class with Cristian Tudor Popescu at Cinepolitica!

After a full house opening ceremony on Tuesday, April 8th, at Studio Cinema, the third edition of Cinepolitica International Film Festival continues on Thursday and Friday with a selection of films submitted for the Academy Awards, a master class given by Cristian Tudor Popescu and a selection of powerful stories in the Panorama. The festival was opened by TV anchor Cătălin Ștefănescu and Cinepolitica director Copel Moscu.
 

Serge Avedikian, winner of a Palme d’Or for Chienne d’histoire and protagonist of Paradjanov, talked about Ideological Censorship and Economic Censorship in Cinema, on Wednesday, at Union Cinema, and Thursday evening, from 8pm, at Studio Cinema, the audience can meet him after the screening of one of the most eagerly-awaited films from the Competition, Paradjanov. Along with co-director Olena Fetisova and producer Volodimir Kozyr, the French actor and director of Armenian origin will talk about the legendary filmmaker and auteur Sergei Paradjanov and about the production of the film submitted by Ukraine for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this year. (trailer)
 
Also on Thursday evening, at Studio Cinema, from 6pm, we will host the premiere screening of Friends from France / Les Interdits, by Philippe Kotlarski and Anne Weil, a look into the brutal and absurd world behind the Iron Curtain, in 1979, through the story of two young French friends, tourists during the day and clandestines at night.
 
In the Eye on Films programme, at Union Cinema, we will screen on Thursday, from 6pm and 8pm, respectively, two ravaging stories about betrayal and its consequences: The Mole / Kret (directed by Rafael Lewandowski), the drama of a leader of the Solidarnosc labor movement, accused of being an informant, and Dear Betrayed Friends / Drága besúgott barátaim (directed by Sára Cserhalmi), which tackles the still sesitive topics of the network of ex-informers and lustration law.
 
Also long-awaited is the second meeting of the festival with writer and filmologist Cristian Tudor Popescu, on Friday, April 11th, from 9pm, at Elvire Popesco Cinema. He will give a master class on “Power and Truth in Romanian Cinema”, topic which he also explored in his book “Deaf Film in Mute Romania”.
 
On Friday, April 11^th, at Studio Cinema, two films submitted for the Academy Awards are not to be missed in the Cinepolitica Competition: from 6pm, Neighbouring Sounds / O Som ao Redor (Brazil, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho), a gem of a film, about recent social changes in Brazil, while from 8pm, in The German Doctor / Wakolda (Argentina, directed by Lucía Puenzo), a family discovers that, during the 60s, the infamous doctor Josef Mengele, notorious for his experiments in concentration camps, is their neighbour.
 

At Elvire Popesco Cinema, on Friday, April 11th, audiences can watch a surprising documentary about a huge landfill next to Cannes, a metaphor of today’s consumerist society: Super Trash, by Martin Esposito (3pm), a semi-autobiographical story about a girl who was raised in a Catholic convent and brough against her will to Morocco, where she lives, years later, in the midst of a hunger revolt: The Bag of Flour / Le Sac de farine, by Kadija Leclere (5pm), and a fascinating film on the hidden story behind Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment and the end of apartheid, Plot for Piece, from 7pm.

Organized by the Association for Culture and Image, Cinepolitica International Film Festival is endorsed by the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC) and the National University of Arts (UNArte). The event is supported by the National Cinema Centre (CNC).

Partners: Bucharest General Municipality, Romanian Cultural Institute, National School of Political Science and Public Administration (SNSPA), Faculty of History of the Bucharest University, British Council, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, French Institute Bucharest, Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation, Austrian Cultural Forum, Polish Institute, Balassi Institute - Hungarian Institute in Bucharest, Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, Embassy of the Republic of Argentina, Czech Centre Bucharest, Cervantes Institute, Italian Institute for Culture "Vito Grasso", Romanian Filmmakers' Union, National Film Archive – Romanian Cinematheque.

Media partners: Radio Guerrilla, Observator Cultural, Ziarul Ring, Șapte Seri, Ziare.com, Hotnews.ro, CinemaRx.ro, Cinemagia.ro, Port.ro, Studentie.ro, Liternet.ro, Ziarul Metropolis, Getlokal.ro, Orasulm.eu, FilmReporter.ro, Casa Jurnalistului, Cooperativa Urbană, Societatesicultura.ro, KoolHunt.ro, CineFan.ro, BlogdeCinema.ro, PoliticALL, All about Romanian Cinema, CalendarEvenimente.ro.