The New Year that Never Came awarded in Venice
The New Year that Never Came, a feature film by the Romanian director Bogdan Muresanu, was awarded in Venice.
Mihaela Ignătescu, 09.09.2024, 14:00
The Romanian film “The New Year that Never Came”, directed, written and produced by Bogdan Mureşanu, was awarded prizes at this year’s edition of the Venice International Festival, which ended on Saturday evening. The film won the FIPRESCI Award – offered by the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics and, respectively, the Bisatod’Oro 2024 award for Best Screenplay, offered by independent critics. “The film stands out for its ambitious and outstanding direction, its careful political vision, sophisticated and engaging storytelling, artistic balance and the exceptional casting”, the members of the FIPRESCI jury appreciated.According to them, the feature film culminates in a deep exploration of human behavior, influenced by the fear of political repression, shared by many generations who lived under an authoritarian regime.
For their part, the independent critics, those who awarded the Bisatod’Oro award, are of the opinion that Bogdan Mureşanu’s script sensitively illustrates a crucial moment for Romania’s history, interspersing, in an exceptional way, “the destinies of some distinct and strong characters , offering us, at the same time, an emotional story and a unique study of the soul, a true human comedy”. At the festival screening, the film was applauded for many minutes by a room of 1,400 spectators.
The debut feature film of the director Bogdan Mureşanu is a tragicomedy whose action takes place in a single day, before the anti-communist revolution of December 1989 and it stars, among others, Emilia Dobrin, Mihai Călin and Nicoleta Hâncu. In the film, there are also many references to what had happened in the previous days in Timisoara. “We make films with the secret desire to be liked by the public, but also appreciated by those who write about cinema, equally. Such an important award means more to me than an appreciation of the film. It is a sign of dialogue across borders. There is nothing bigger than that”, said the director Bogdan Mureşanu.
At the same time, Boroka Biro, the cinematographer of the film “The New Year that Never Came” was awarded with the Premio Autrici under 40 “Valentina Pedicini” special mention. The distinction recognizes the talent of an author under 40 years of age, for an outstanding performance in direction, script, editing, image, in a film presented in the Orizzonti, Orizzonti Extra, Giornate degli Autori and Settimana Internazionale della Critica sections. Boroka Biro is the first director of photography to receive this award, now in its fourth edition, under the aegis of “Venezia a Napoli. Il Cinema Esteso”. The New Year that Never Came is the second fiction feature film on which she worked as a cinematographer. (MI)
