<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Astra International Film festival in Sibiu has
\nreached its 26th edition. Held over October 14 and 20, 2019, the
\nfestival had no less than 20 production screened in theaters across the city;
\nthe productions focused on Romania because of their plot, or because they were
\ndirected by a Romanian filmmaker. Thirteen of them were included in the festival’s
\n‘Romania’ competition. According to the organizers, the productions QUOTE cover the small-scale, intimate history,
\nas well as History with a capital ‘H’, while through the themes they tackled,
\nfilmmakers have struck the most sensitive chords of Romanian society. These
\nproductions dare filmgoers to have a deeper understanding of the country, from
\nits making, as early as 1918, to the trying years of the dictatorship and the
\nphenomena that proliferated in the three decades that have passed since the Revolution,
\nsuch as migration or corruption UNQUOTE.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alex Brendea has a rich experience as a film editor. With Profu\/Teach,
\nAlex made his debut as a documentary filmmaker. <\/p>\n
Alex Brendea:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
What I like about the documentary is the fact that it offers
\nmore freedom as compared to the feature film. Which means you have more time on
\nyour hands for your characters, the team is smaller than that of a feature
\nfilm, everything is more intimate and, if you will, you can be more spontaneous
\nand more creative. Just to give you an example, while working on a feature film
\nyou don’t have that much freedom to make the changes you want to make, but you
\ncan do that for a documentary. While working on a documentary, you can make
\nmajor changes from one day to the next, you can decide to change the shots, to
\nfilm something you planned beforehand. As for a feature film, you have your
\nshots planned already, you are aware that what comes next for you is the shooting of
\na medium close-up, or a large one. In a documentary, that comes as something a
\nlot more spontaneous, you don’t know what your character will do next, or what
\nmay intervene in the whole story.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The documentary directed by Alex Brendea tells the tale of a
\nmath teacher in Bistrita who decides to pull out of the official education
\nsystem and opens a private school in his own flat. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alex Brendea:<\/p>\n
Actually, the teacher’s name is Dorin Ionita,
\nbut everybody, all his pupils called him Teach, and that’s what his name has been,
\never since. I met him when I was an 11th grader in high-school, he
\nwas my Math teacher after school, which means I went to his place to take
\nprivate lessons, even though I wanted to pursue the Film Faculty as early as my
\nhigh school years. I remember I was impressed by him from the very beginning,
\nwhen I first stepped into his house I saw he turned one of his rooms into a
\nregular classroom, in the other room there was a motorbike whose parts were
\ndisassembled and placed very meticulously on the floor, and I realized I was in
\nfront of a very special man, and that’s how I thought about making a documentary about
\nhim. I appreciated him a lot for the fact that he resigned from the system in
\norder to make his own match class, and because he was so dedicated to that
\nidea.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Golden Girl is a documentary made by Denisa Morariu Tamas
\nand Adrian Robe. It was shot by Cristian Tamas, and explores a dramatic episode
\nin the history of Romanian gymnastics. We recall that in the 2000 edition of
\nthe Sydney Olympics, Andreea Raducan fought really hard to take back her gold
\nmedal. <\/p>\n
Denisa Morariu Tamas:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We have a media background, the three of us,
\nwe’re journalists. So our film is rather closer to the TV documentary, a genre
\nwe have been working on since 2011. It is an information-centered documentary,
\nblending story into investigation. And the moment we also started working with
\nHBO Europe, whose support for us was very important, we have become even more
\ncareful with the observational aspect, which means you need to be very keen on
\nyour characters as you are observing them. The documentary is second nature for
\nus and I like that uncertainty the genre has in store for you, you never know
\nwhat is going to happen.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
One of Romania’s top-notch gymnasts, Andreea Raducan, walked away
\nwith the Olympic title at the Sydney Olympics 2000. However, the title was officially withdrawn from her three days later because she tested positive for a chemical ingredient
\nincluded in a wretched cold pill she had been given by the physician of the
\nnational gymnastics team. <\/p>\n
Denisa Morariu Tamas:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As for our documentary, the
\nGolden Girl, we started off with this mindset, that of retrieving Andreea’s
\nmedal. We also had lawyers who offered Andreea support, they examined the
\nSwitzerland file, but there was nothing they could do, unfortunately, the deed
\nhad been written off, more than 10 years had passed. One of the interesting
\nthings about our documentary is that we got ourselves a character who seems
\nperfect in front of the camera and what we found difficult was to be able to
\ndetect Andreea’s moments of weakness, to find the human being behind the
\nchampion. We intended to make a film about that trauma of losing a medal,
\nsomething she is not aware of just yet. The documentary also tells the tale of
\na generation in gymnastics. As compared to that moment, Sydney 2000, the
\nsituation has changed a lot, if we take a look at recent results, Romania came
\nin 22nd according to the final World Championships rankings. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Astra International Film Festival in Sibiu
\nincludes, for the recently-held 26th edition, a selection of the
\nrecent 126 productions made in 45 countries worldwide. So entering the
\naward-winning race for the festival were 47 titles, screened in 4 sections of
\nthe competition. Completing the program were dozens of noteworthy films,
\ngrouped in 12 special thematic programs according to the topics they broached.
\nProductions tackle topics that for us have become more distressing these days,
\nirrespective of sex, nationality or age. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian reality revisited by award-winning documentaries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":83399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[33555,45004,45005],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-162612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-andreea-raducan","tag-astra-international-film-festival","tag-denisa-morariu-tamas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n