- Romanian Shorts # 2 :  15:00- 16:30

Sélection et présentation par Dominique Nasta, professeure à l’ULB et auteure de l’ouvrage “Contemporary Romanian Cinema: The History of an Unexpected Miracle” (2014)

HUMANITARIAN AID / AJUTOARE UMANITARE (2002)

Director: Hanno Höfer 17 min.

Three young men from western Europe are bringing humanitarian aid to a remote Transylvanian village. They’ll also be the recipients of a little humanitarian aid themselves.

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES / UN CARTUȘ DE KENT ȘI UN PACHET DE CAFEA (2004)

Director: Cristi Puiu: 13 min.

An old man enters a restaurant in Bucharest. He takes a seat at a table where a younger man who looks like he could be a successful businessman is already eating dessert. Their short meeting shows two generations with different mentalities, but who act according to the same principle: Kent cigarettes and a pack of coffee can make the difference when you want to get a new job.

TRAFFIC / TRAFIC (2004)

Director: Cătălin Mitulescu: 15 min.

While on his way for a business meeting, Tudor is having an unexpected 30 minutes break, because of the impossible traffic. He’s got enough time to have a coffee, to talk a little about his beloved little girl and to take a picture.

THE TUBE WITH A HAT / LAMPA CU CĂCIULĂ (2006)

Director: Radu Jude: 24 min.

Very early in the morning, Marian, a 7-year-old boy from a small isolated Romanian village, wakes up his father and persuades him to go into town to fix their old TV set. Despite the bad weather, the father finally agrees. Marian and his father start out, carrying the TV set, hoping that in the city they will find Bichescu, a specialist, who will fix their problem.

- Panel with professionals and experts around Romanian Shorts and New Romanian Cinema :17:00 - 18:30, free entrance

Looking back nearly 20 years, Romanian cinema has seen an impressive growth since the start of the “New Wave”: a re-established film industry, countless awards and international recognition, valuable co-productions, diversifying narratives and formal experimentation.  The « Cinema Palace «  Program presents an engaging panel discussion in English with some of the key people that have observed and contributed to the rise of the New Romanian Cinema, offering their insights into its recent history, successes and future horizons.

Moderator : Dominique Nasta (Professor of Film Studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles and author of Contemporary Romanian Cinema: The History of an Unexpected Miracle (2013)).

Panel Guests : 

- Corina Suteu (cultural consultant, former Cultural Minister of Romania, president of MAKING Waves, New York: New Romanian Cinema and fARAD - International documentary film festival)

- Bianca Oana (producer of the award-winning films Touch Me Not (d. Adina Pintilie), Collective and Toto and his sisters (directed by Alexandru Nanau) and Turn off the Lights (d. Ivana Mladenovic))

- Dana Bunescu has been the main film and sound editor behind the New Romanian Cinema:The Death of Mr Lăzărescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, Child’s Pose and Ana, mon amour (Silver Bear for technical achievement at the 2017 Berlinale). 

- Irina Trocan (film critic and academic, editor of EUROPALIA-ROMANIA’s publication Romanian Cinema Inside Out: Perspectives on Film Culture, Industry and Politics 1912-2019). 

- Andrei Tănăsescu (curator and festival programmer based in Toronto and Bucharest, curator of EUROPALIA-ROMANIA film programme Videograms of a Nation).

- Romanian Shorts # 3 :  19:00- 21:00

• A Night In Tokoriki - In an improvised night club called "Tokoriki" the whole village celebrates Gianina's 18th birthday. Her boyfriend and Alin will give her a most surprising gift, one that nobody will ever forget. A lot is happening at Disco Tokoriki tonight. Geanina is celebrating her 18th birthday, and it seems as if the neon lights are shining just for her and her boyfriend... (18')
• Borders - A story which follows the borders that have silently grown between a man and a woman. Interior, emotional borders. The ones which separate us before any other. Feeling that his wife has grown estranged from him after years of working abroad, Tavi decides to go to France and convince her to come home. Angela, his wife, has a hard time telling him the truth he needs to hear until Tavi 's desperate gesture forces her to do so.  (27')
• Ivy - At a dinner party with her friends, Zoe introduces Duncan, her new foreign boyfriend. Everybody seems to get along, but Zoe has a secret that is weighing her down. (27')
• A Death In My Family - "I always thought the world would stop spinning when a loved one dies. But it did not stop." Grandma is terminally ill, while the rest of the family frets with Easter preparations. The camera observes the familial dynamics and creates a reflection on death from the granddaughter's perspective. (14')