Power and Truth in Romanian Cinema (Cristian Tudor Popescu)

Ideological and economic censorship and the interference of politics in cinema are the topics of the two master classes given by filmmaker Serge Avedikian and filmologist Cristian Tudor Popescu in Bucharest, during Cinepolitica International Film Festival (April 8th-13th, Studio, Elvire Popesco and Union Cinemas). Furthermore, one of the most renowned Romanian journalists, Adelin Petrișor, will present North Korea – Nothing to Envy, his documentary made upon his journey in 2012 to the most perilous Communist regime of today.

The master class “Ideological Censorship and Economic Censorship in Cinema”, held by the French filmmaker of Armenian origin, Serge Avedikian, will take place on Wednesday, April 9^th, from 6pm, at Union Cinema. Avedikian is the protagonist and co-director (along with Olena Fetisova) of the film Paradjanov, a biography of the legendary director Sergei Paradjanov, which is part of the Cinepolitica Competition. In 2010, he received a Palme d’Or for the short film “Chienne d’histoire”.

Born and raised in Yerevan, he fled to France when he was 15, and settled in Paris in 1971, where he taught at the Conservatory. In 1976, he started his own theatre company, and in 1988 a production house. He has directed several plays and films, while also starring in films such as Nous étions un seul homme (1979), Le bûcheron des mots (2009) or Persian love (2011).

About the “Interferences of Politics in Romanian Cinema” will talk the writer and filmologist Cristian Tudor Popescu on Friday, April 11^th, from 9pm, at Elvire Popesco Cinema. He will take a critical approach, with applied examples, on the history of local cinema and its relation to politics, topic he expanded on in his book “Deaf Film in Mute Romania”.
 

Not to be missed is also the meeting with one of the most revered Romanian journalists, Adelin Petrișor, on Saturday, April 12th, from 8:30pm, at Elvire Popesco Cinema. In the special program North and South we will screen North Korea – Nothing to Envy (2013), a documentary made after a journey taken alongside his colleague from the Romanian National Television, the operator Cătălin Popescu. The two were the first Romanian journalists who were granted access after 1989 to the isolated country of North Korea. After the screening, Adelin Petrișor will answer the questions of the audience.

Part of the same programme, North and South, is National Security / Namyeong-dong 1985 (South Korea, 2012), by Chung Ji-Young, an impressive drama about the leader of a democratic movement in South Korea, who was arrested and tortured in the infamous Namyeong-dong interrogation centre, in order to admit to his collaboration with communists from the North. Years later, he reunites with his torturer. (trailer)

Filmgoers can also see EU 013, the Last Frontier / EU 013, L’Ultima frontiera (2013), by Alessio Genovese, the first documentary which manages to permeate the crude world of the identification and expulsion centres in Italy, in which thousands of foreign citizens have been detained for even more than a year and a half without committing any crime or being sentenced by any judge.

An event organized by French-German Fund Elysée, the French Institute in Bucharest, Goethe-Institut and the National Film Archive - Romanian Cinematheque, in order to highlight the 100 years that have passed since the beginning of the First World War, brings Grand Illusion / La Grande illusion (1937), directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin, on the screen of Elvire Popesco Cinema, on April 12th, from 4pm – one of the masterpieces of classic cinema. The film tells the story of a group of French soldiers who were taken prisoners by the Germans during the First World War.

Cinepolitica International Film Festival is organized by the Association for Culture and Image and 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.