Making Waves – New Romanian cinema

The longest-running Romanian film festival in America featured a great lineup, including award-winning titles and an Oscars contender.

Corina Sabău, 13.03.2021, 14:00

Now in its 15th year, Making Waves, the
longest-running festival dedicated to new Romanian cinema to be held in America,
took place at the end of February in an online-only format. The event is produced
and curated by Corina Șuteu, Mihai Chirilov and Oana Radu, the same team who
initiated the festival back in 2006. Here’s Mihai Chirilov, the festival’s
artistic director:

We had to rethink the festival this year. Every year,
we used to fly over to the US Romanian film makers and actors to meet the American
public, and every screening would be followed by talks with the spectators. We usually
showed 7 productions, over the course of one week. This year, because the
online format allowed us more flexibility, we also included six short films alongside
the standard seven feature films. The advantage of online screening is that the
films were available to watch not only by the New York public, as has been the
case in previous editions, but by the entire American public. We were talking
about this with our friends at Jacob Burns Film Center, the festival’s traditional
partners, who were surprised that the films had so many views. The films were available
to watch based on a pass valid for all productions and the conclusion is that
both our partners at Jacob Burns Film Center and we are very happy that the
films reached so many American spectators. The festival managed to create its
own public, especially in New York, made up of both American film lovers
interested in Romanian cinema and Romanians living in the US who want to catch up
with the latest Romanian productions. The key to our success is constancy. The
festival went through a challenging period, then re-created itself as an
independent project funded by donations. And the donations from the American
public only make this public more loyal. The fact that we were able to reach a
wider geographical area this year was beneficial for the festival. Before this
edition, Making Waves used to take place in New York, in well-known screening
venues, with the exception of 2019 when we celebrated the 30th
anniversary of the Revolution of 1989 and when we had a bigger line-up of 30 films,
titles that have made history in these last 30 years, and which were screened
to various other cities around America, as well.

Malmkrog
by Cristi Puiu, Legacy by Dorian Boguţă, The Campaign by Marian
Crişan, Ivana the Terrible by Ivana Mladenovic, House of Dolls by
Tudor Platon, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc and Collective by Alexander
Nanau were the titles shown as part of the Making Waves festival this year. This
was a great year for Romanian documentary film-making, especially those titles
exploring social issues, with both Collective and My Home earning
impressive international recognition – which is why they opened and ended this
year’s edition of Making Waves, wrote critic Mihai Chrilov.

Apart from being included on the Oscars’ shortlist this
year in two different categories, Alexander Nanau’s documentary Collective
is considered by the international press as one of the best films about
journalism ever made. Mihai Chirilov, the artistic director of the Making Waves
film festival explains:

Every year when we select the lineup for the festival
we try to include productions and film makers who already ring familiar in America.
We did the same this year. Choosing Alexander Nanau’s Collective to open
the festival came naturally. It was the most visible title in America and beyond,
winning extremely good reviews ever since it was first launched at the Toronto
festival in 2019. And the pandemic took nothing away from the film’s reputation
and impact, with the film winning an Oscar nomination. So, it was only natural
to honour the film’s success in America and show it in the opening of the
festival. We also hope to increase its visibility as we’re coming closer to the
final decision of the American Film Academy.

Apart from films, the festival also featured
interviews with actor Irina Rădulescu and directors Marian Crișan, Tudor Platon
and Ivana Mladenović.