Radio România Internațional

Tag: Berlin International Film Festival

  • February 24, 2025

    February 24, 2025

    WAR IN UKRAINE – The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hailed Ukrainian “resistance” on marking three years since the start of the Russian invasion, when several European leaders came to Kyiv to reassert their support for Ukraine amidst a shift of US policy on the war. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Spanish Prime Minister Petro Sanchez, as well as presidents and prime ministers from Baltic and Nordic states arrived in Kyiv on Monday morning for a summit devoted to collective defense and security strategy. Another 24 European leaders, including Romania’s interim president, Ilie Bolojan, will take part via video link. Also today, French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting Donald Trump at the White House, hoping to convince the US president to take into account the security of Europeans. Demonstrations in support of Ukraine took place over the weekend in Paris, Prague and Vilnius, in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington and in several American cities. Several hundred people, mostly refugees from Ukraine, participated in demonstrations yesterday in Bucharest and Constanța (southeast) to mark 11 years of Russian aggression and three years since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In Bucharest, the Parliament Palace will be lit up in yellow and blue to express solidarity with Ukraine. The Chamber of Deputies today will observe a moment of silence to pay homage to the victims of the war.

     

    FAC – Romania’s Foreign Minister, Emil Hurezeanu, is attending Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. According to a Foreign Ministry release, the agenda of the Council meeting includes Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, developments in the Middle East, Congo and Georgia. Talks on the war in Ukraine will also mark three years since the start of the conflict and will focus on the latest developments and on continuing EU multidimensional support for Ukraine, especially amidst the latest geopolitical dynamics concerning Ukraine peace talks. Talks on the Middle East will refer to the recent developments in Israel and Gaza, the importance of upholding the ceasefire agreement and the humanitarian situation in the region.

     

    DEFENSE – The Senate is today debating a bill allowing the army to shoot down foreign drones that illegally enter Romanian airspace. The Senate is the decision-making body in this matter, so if approved, the draft law will be submitted to interim president Ilie Bolojan for approval. The initiative is designed to correct a legal loophole amidst heated debates on social media. The bill allows the Romanian army and the units of allied and partner states to use aerial and land systems to shoot down illegal drones. The bill also creates the legal framework for conducting military operations without declaring a state of emergency. NATO will also be able to assume command of structures of the Romanian Army over a limited period of time.

     

    CORRUPTION – Anti-corruption prosecutors are raiding over 40 locations in the port of Constanța (southeast), targeting possible cases of corruption. The investigation might involve port managers and officials who took or gave bribes of some €6 mln.

     

    WASTE CRISIS – The city of Ploiești (south) is on the verge of a health crisis after no waste has been collected for nearly a week. Mayor Mihai Poliţeanu has called on central authorities to declare a state of emergency. The mayor calls on the Interior and Environment ministries to urgently unlock procedures to award environment permits and take legal action against the management of the local waste collection company, whose contract expired on January 15 and license at the end of 2024. Mayor Poliţeanu says the municipality was unhappy with the quality of waste collection services, and that the newly contracted operator was unable to start its activity due to an illegal deed extending the contract of the old operator. Under these circumstances, the Prahova County Environment Protection Agency did not issue an environment permit for the new operator. The Ploiești municipality has filed a notification in this regard.

     

    GERMANY – The Conservatives have won Sunday’s parliamentary election in Germany, although the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the far-right party, grabbed its best score yet. The CDU/CSU coalition of center-right parties grabbed some 29% of the vote, while AfD came in second with 20%, an unprecedented result for a far-right party in post-Nazi federal Germany.  “We have never been stronger at national level”, AfD leader Alice Weidel said after the election. Set up in 2013, the anti-migration party doubled its score compared to the 2021 election. The acting chancellor Olaf Scholz is the big loser of the current ballot, after the Social-Democrats grabbed only 16% of the vote, compared to 25% in 2021. The Greens won some 13%, the radical left 9%, while the Liberals apparently won’t reach the 5% threshold that allows them representation in the Bundestag.

     

    AWARD – Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude has scooped the Silver Bear for best script at the Berlin International Film Festival, for his feature film “Kontinental 25”, which tells the story of a bailiff facing a moral crisis.

     

    TENNIS – Two tennis players represent Romania in the WTA singles top 100, according to this Monday’s updated standings – Irina Begu (75) and Jaqueline Cristian (85). Gabriela Ruse (101), Anca Todoni (102) and Sorana Cîrstea (120) are not far off. In the doubles standings, Monica Niculescu ranked 35th, while Gabriela Ruse 51st.  (VP)

  • “Monsters”

    “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.

  • Romania wins Silver Bear award for best director

    Romania wins Silver Bear award for best director

    Two years after Calin Peter Netzer’s film “Child’s Pose” won Romania’s first Golden Bear trophy at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Romanian cinematography is again in the spotlight in Berlin. The young director Radu Jude received the Silver Bear award for best director for “Aferim”, the only Romanian title to run in the official competition this year. The winner of the Golden Bear award was the Iranian dissident film-maker Jafar Panahi with a film called “Taxi”.



    “If I knew that I would win such an important award, I would have been very serious while filming it”, joked the Romania director in his acceptance speech. He said that the Silver Bear belonged to the whole team that worked on the film. Radu Jude:



    “I am happy that my effort has been recognised, but this is less important. What’s more important is that the effort and talent of the whole team has been recognised. I hope the prize will mean a better distribution of the film, both in Romania and abroad. As far as Romanian cinematography is concerned, believe this could be a sign that art-house films, films that focus on important issues, are essential and that they are more important than what we usually call commercial cinematography”.



    Considered one of the most significant cinematographic projects in Romania in recent years, “Aferim” is a historical film whose action is placed in the Romanian Principalities in the early 19th century. A constable accompanied by his son is looking for a gypsy slave who had run away from the estate of a local boyar after seducing the latter’s wife.



    The film tackles a number of sensitive issues such as the discrimination of the gypsy, slavery, the condition of women in the early 19th century society and the more or less controversial customs of the time. The script was written by Radu Jude and Florin Lazarescu, the film having had a record budget for Romania, namely more than 1 million euros.



    Made in cooperation with the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, “Aferim” will be released in Romania in March. This is the 3rd feature film made by Radu Jude after “Everybody in Our Family” and “The Happiest Girl in the World”, both of which have won a several awards at international festivals.