Now in its 15th year, Making Waves, the
\nlongest-running festival dedicated to new Romanian cinema to be held in America,
\ntook place at the end of February in an online-only format. The event is produced
\nand curated by Corina \u0218uteu, Mihai Chirilov and Oana Radu, the same team who
\ninitiated the festival back in 2006. Here’s Mihai Chirilov, the festival’s
\nartistic director:<\/p>\n
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We had to rethink the festival this year. Every year,
\nwe used to fly over to the US Romanian film makers and actors to meet the American
\npublic, and every screening would be followed by talks with the spectators. We usually
\nshowed 7 productions, over the course of one week. This year, because the
\nonline format allowed us more flexibility, we also included six short films alongside
\nthe standard seven feature films. The advantage of online screening is that the
\nfilms were available to watch not only by the New York public, as has been the
\ncase in previous editions, but by the entire American public. We were talking
\nabout this with our friends at Jacob Burns Film Center, the festival’s traditional
\npartners, who were surprised that the films had so many views. The films were available
\nto watch based on a pass valid for all productions and the conclusion is that
\nboth our partners at Jacob Burns Film Center and we are very happy that the
\nfilms reached so many American spectators. The festival managed to create its
\nown public, especially in New York, made up of both American film lovers
\ninterested in Romanian cinema and Romanians living in the US who want to catch up
\nwith the latest Romanian productions. The key to our success is constancy. The
\nfestival went through a challenging period, then re-created itself as an
\nindependent project funded by donations. And the donations from the American
\npublic only make this public more loyal. The fact that we were able to reach a
\nwider geographical area this year was beneficial for the festival. Before this
\nedition, Making Waves used to take place in New York, in well-known screening
\nvenues, with the exception of 2019 when we celebrated the 30th
\nanniversary of the Revolution of 1989 and when we had a bigger line-up of 30 films,
\ntitles that have made history in these last 30 years, and which were screened
\nto various other cities around America, as well.<\/p>\n
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Malmkrog
\nby Cristi Puiu, Legacy by Dorian Bogu\u0163\u0103, The Campaign by Marian
\nCri\u015fan, Ivana the Terrible by Ivana Mladenovic, House of Dolls by
\nTudor Platon, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc and Collective by Alexander
\nNanau were the titles shown as part of the Making Waves festival this year. This
\nwas a great year for Romanian documentary film-making, especially those titles
\nexploring social issues, with both Collective and My Home earning
\nimpressive international recognition – which is why they opened and ended this
\nyear’s edition of Making Waves, wrote critic Mihai Chrilov. <\/p>\n
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Apart from being included on the Oscars’ shortlist this
\nyear in two different categories, Alexander Nanau’s documentary Collective
\nis considered by the international press as one of the best films about
\njournalism ever made. Mihai Chirilov, the artistic director of the Making Waves
\nfilm festival explains:<\/p>\n
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Every year when we select the lineup for the festival
\nwe try to include productions and film makers who already ring familiar in America.
\nWe did the same this year. Choosing Alexander Nanau’s Collective to open
\nthe festival came naturally. It was the most visible title in America and beyond,
\nwinning extremely good reviews ever since it was first launched at the Toronto
\nfestival in 2019. And the pandemic took nothing away from the film’s reputation
\nand impact, with the film winning an Oscar nomination. So, it was only natural
\nto honour the film’s success in America and show it in the opening of the
\nfestival. We also hope to increase its visibility as we’re coming closer to the
\nfinal decision of the American Film Academy.<\/p>\n
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Apart from films, the festival also featured
\ninterviews with actor Irina R\u0103dulescu and directors Marian Cri\u0219an, Tudor Platon
\nand Ivana Mladenovi\u0107. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The longest-running Romanian film festival in America featured a great lineup, including award-winning titles and an Oscars contender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":163239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[29241],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-163238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-film"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n