"Monsters"

"Monsters", the only Romanian film selected for the Berlin International Film Festival, which is the debut feature film of director Marius Olteanu, has received the Audience Award granted by the German publication Tagesspiegel. The movie was voted by the nine members of this independent jury that appreciated director Marius Olteanu's talent for using a special visual language to describe the multi-layered nature of a relationship that had to cope with the pressure of society. Highly appreciative of the prize he received at the Berlinale, Marius Olteanu was happy to see his movie being screened four times more during the festival, and he hopes "Monsters" will be equally successful in Romania. We talked to Marius Olteanu about the reaction of the audiences who watched his movie at the Berlinale and who participated in the Q&A sessions held there.

"People asked good questions, their questions showed that they reacted to what they saw in the movie, they were interested in what they saw, they were excited. Some of them confessed that they had not seen such a movie before, one that raises the issues in 'Monsters'. I received many questions and favorable reactions. One day, while in the street, somebody came to me, hugged me and thanked me for the film. There were many Romanians who came to see the movie and this was a great joy for me. The movie has a certain type of humor, despite being a drama. It's an atypical love story which shows that the greatest proof of love is actually relinquishing your love. I noticed that the Romanians who attended the screenings in Berlin had stronger reactions to the film humor than the other spectators. It seems to me that there is a level of understanding accessible primarily to Romanians and I could gather that from their reactions, their laughter. It was a typically-Romanian reaction to the film humor, a reaction that I enjoyed a lot."

"Monsters" was included in the Forum section which is devoted to experimental projects that focus on avant-garde tendencies, essays and political reports. The movie presents one day in the life of two newlyweds who seem to be loved by their family, by society and friends as a couple, but who are judged and rejected when they are on their own. Here is director Marius Olteanu with more:

"I have already said it in other interviews, 'Monsters' is not a movie that gives verdicts and labels people. It asks questions and targets those people who are willing to think about these aspects. The movie also asks questions such as: to what extent are we willing to open up to the others, to tolerate, to make compromises, to understand the others, what happens to love within a couple after many years, how does it survive, or if it does not survive, what do we replace it with, or how do people react to a couple. The main characters in the movie are loved by the others - family, society, friends - as long as they are together, but when they separate, they are disregarded and labeled. And this is another question raised by the movie, to what extent these labels are actually 'definitive sentences'. Because when we label people, we take a distance from them and thus we miss the chance of getting to know them better, of meeting them and winning something from this interaction."

The film "Monsters" features Judith State, Cristian Popa, Alexandru Potocean, Şerban Pavlu, Dorina Lazăr and Gabriel Răuţă, and it was produced by Parada Film and Wearebasca, with the support of the National Center of Cinematography.

Although it focuses on the fragile relationship between a man and a woman, "Monsters" also raises other issues. Here is director Marius Olteanu back at the microphone with more:

"There is another theme that I find equally important, namely the status of women in society. I can also mention the theme of maternity, and how a woman comes to be considered a WOMAN only when she becomes a mother. I find this a very serious issue, and it happens in many other spaces, not only in Romania, namely that women are regarded more as mothers and wives and less as human beings free to choose a life in accordance with their own values. Many people believe that this is the mentality of older generations, but I have friends of my age or even younger who have this mentality, like their grandparents."

"Monsters" will be previewed at the Transylvania International Film Festival - TIFF - and will be released in Romanian movie theaters in late September.