"The Square" Wins the Cinepolitica Trophy!

The film The Square / Al Midan, directed by Jehane Noujaim, an incisive documentary on the protests in Egypt, was awarded the Cinepolitica 2014 Trophy on Sunday evening, at Studio Cinema. The third edition of the Cinepolitica International Film Festival then closed with the screening of the blockbuster Back to 1942, China’s submission to the Academy Awards, after six days in which thousands of filmgoers joined us in three cinemas in Bucharest: Studio, Union and Elvire Popesco. The Closing Ceremony was presented by the director of the festival, Copel Moscu.
 

 
About The Square, nominated this year for the Academy Award for best Documentary Feature, the Jury appreciated, “on the one hand, the ability to describe adequately the typical dynamics of a social mutation that involves the relationship between collective movements and institutions, and, on the other hand, the ability to interpret the evolution of a transformation still not fully completed, but desirable, through the innocent and uncompromising perspective of a young protagonist”.
 
The award for Best Political Film was given to Neighbouring Sounds / O Som ao Redor, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, for “a unique approach to a complex socio-political reality, treated with a restrained expression and meticulous camera, editing and sound design. And for the use of urban landscape, both interior and exterior, as a mirror to the character's inner world”.

The Special Mention of the Jury was handed out to Paradjanov, an unconventional biography of the filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov, directed by Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, “for the political depths and the distinguished artistic qualities of the film, for the usage of several varied elements of cinematic expression, for the evocation of an exemplary and iconic character, who created masterpieces despite all the vicissitudes of the totalitarian period, thus proving that the resistance through culture can defeat the system’s opposition”.
 

The more than 20 films which in the Cinepolitica 2014 selection were mostly screened in Romanian premiere, and many of them will not be given a wide release in Romanian cinemas. Thousands of people attended our screenings and debates. Cristian Tudor Popescu’s Master Class on “Power and Truth in Romanian Cinema” ended at midnight, after three hours of debates, and the meeting with Adelin Petrișor and his stories from North Korea was sold out at the Elvira Popesco Cinema. The premiere of the film Paradjanov, in the presence of actor and director Serge Avedikian, co-director Olena Fetisova and producer Volodimir Kozyr, also attracted our viewers until late into the night. In attendance you could find such figures as the Ambassadors of the Russian Federation, H.E. Oleg Sergheevici Malginov, of Georgia, H.E. Giorgadze Ilia, and of the Republic of Armenia, H.E. Hamlet Gasparian.
 

The Jury was comprised of an Israeli-born artist duo living in Belgium, Effi & Amir, the festival director and expert in visual sociology Antonio Casciaro, from Italy, and the Romanian journalist and political analyst Bogdan Ficeac.
 

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.

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