Monsters, the
\nonly Romanian film selected for the Berlin International Film Festival, which
\nis the debut feature film of director Marius Olteanu, has received the Audience
\nAward granted by the German publication Tagesspiegel. The movie was voted by
\nthe nine members of this independent jury that appreciated director Marius
\nOlteanu’s talent for using a special visual language to describe the
\nmulti-layered nature of a relationship that had to cope with the pressure of
\nsociety. Highly appreciative of the prize he received at the Berlinale, Marius
\nOlteanu was happy to see his movie being screened four times more during the
\nfestival, and he hopes Monsters will be equally successful in Romania. We
\ntalked to Marius Olteanu about the reaction of the audiences who watched his
\nmovie at the Berlinale and who participated in the Q&A sessions held there.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
People
\nasked good questions, their questions showed that they reacted to what they saw
\nin the movie, they were interested in what they saw, they were excited. Some of
\nthem confessed that they had not seen such a movie before, one that raises the
\nissues in ‘Monsters’. I received many questions and favorable reactions. One
\nday, while in the street, somebody came to me, hugged me and thanked me for the
\nfilm. There were many Romanians who came to see the movie and this was a great
\njoy for me. The movie has a certain type of humor, despite being a drama. It’s an
\natypical love story which shows that the greatest proof of love is actually relinquishing
\nyour love. I noticed that the Romanians who attended the screenings in Berlin had
\nstronger reactions to the film humor than the other spectators. It seems to me
\nthat there is a level of understanding accessible primarily to Romanians and I
\ncould gather that from their reactions, their laughter. It was a typically-Romanian
\nreaction to the film humor, a reaction that I enjoyed a lot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Monsters was
\nincluded in the Forum section which is devoted to experimental projects that
\nfocus on avant-garde tendencies, essays and political reports. The movie
\npresents one day in the life of two newlyweds who seem to be loved by their family,
\nby society and friends as a couple, but who are judged and rejected when they
\nare on their own. Here is director Marius Olteanu with more: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I have
\nalready said it in other interviews, ‘Monsters’ is not a movie that gives
\nverdicts and labels people. It asks questions and targets those people who are
\nwilling to think about these aspects. The movie also asks questions such as: to
\nwhat extent are we willing to open up to the others, to tolerate, to make
\ncompromises, to understand the others, what happens to love within a couple
\nafter many years, how does it survive, or if it does not survive, what do we
\nreplace it with, or how do people react to a couple. The main characters in the
\nmovie are loved by the others – family, society, friends – as long as they are
\ntogether, but when they separate, they are disregarded and labeled. And this is
\nanother question raised by the movie, to what extent these labels are actually ‘definitive
\nsentences’. Because when we label people, we take a distance from them and thus
\nwe miss the chance of getting to know them better, of meeting them and winning something
\nfrom this interaction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The film Monsters
\nfeatures Judith State, Cristian
\nPopa, Alexandru Potocean, \u015eerban Pavlu, Dorina Laz\u0103r and Gabriel R\u0103u\u0163\u0103,
\nand it was produced by Parada Film and Wearebasca, with the support of the
\nNational Center of Cinematography.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Although it focuses
\non the fragile relationship between a man and a woman, Monsters also raises
\nother issues. Here is director Marius Olteanu back at the microphone with more:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There is
\nanother theme that I find equally important, namely the status of women in
\nsociety. I can also mention the theme of maternity, and how a woman comes to be
\nconsidered a WOMAN only when she becomes a mother. I find this a very serious
\nissue, and it happens in many other spaces, not only in Romania, namely that
\nwomen are regarded more as mothers and wives and less as human beings free to
\nchoose a life in accordance with their own values. Many people believe that
\nthis is the mentality of older generations, but I have friends of my age or
\neven younger who have this mentality, like their grandparents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Monsters will
\nbe previewed at the Transylvania International Film Festival – TIFF – and will
\nbe released in Romanian movie theaters in late September. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Romanian production received the Audience Award at the Berlinale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":162398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[37982,44976,39575,34486],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-162397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-berlin-international-film-festival","tag-forum-section","tag-marius-olteanu","tag-monsters"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n