Six daring films compete for the Grand Award and for the Audience Award on the fourth edition of Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival, which will take place on July 20th – 23rd in Timişoara and Gottlob.
The jury comprising the producer Anamaria Antoci, the actor Alexandru Potocean and the film critic Cătălin Olaru will assign the winner of the Ceau, Cinema! Trophy, in value of €1.500, awarded for the best film in competition. The audience will vote for the Audience Award, amounting €500, granted with the support of Kathrein Romania.
Four of the six films will have their first screening in Romania at Ceau, Cinema!
Shown the last year in the competition section of the famous Locarno Film Festival, where it won the critic award, ”Mister Universo” is a moving docu-fiction film. The Austrian director Rainer Frimmel and the Italian director Tizza Covi follow a young lion circus trainer, who sets on a journey around Italy in search of the man who, many years before, gave him a lucky charm.
”Glory” is the second feature film of the directors’ couple Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov from Bulgaria. A modest railroader accidentally finds on the rails a bag full of money, which he hands to the police. However, this incident totally turns his life into a mess and becomes the victim of the chaos and absurdity of bureaucracy and political and media publicity interests. ”Glory” was selected the best film from the Balkans at Sofia Film Festival and has scored tens of nominations and awards.
Included in the ”New Directors” section of the famous San Sebastian Festival, ”Prowl” is the refreshing debut of a young film maker, Alexandra Bălteanu, born in Romania, but resident for several years in Germany, where she studies at the German Academy of Film and Television from Berlin. Aesthetically close to a documentary, the film casts the actresses Corina Moise, Iulia Lumânare and Iulia Ciochină, as prostitutes followed during one day, in the outskirts of Bucharest.
”You Have No Idea How Much I Love You” is the latest film of the famous Polish director Pawel Lozinski. A bold, surprising and profoundly touching documentary, about two adult women – mother and daughter – who attend several psychotherapy sessions, in order to improve their painful relation. Its premiere took place the last year at the International Festival of Documentary Film from Amsterdam (IDFA), the most important event of the genre in the world.
Included in the ”International Critics Week” section of the famous Festival of Venice, ”Pawn Street” is the spectacular and fresh debut of the young director Irene Dionisio, one of the new voices of the Italian cinema. The lives of three characters in difficulty intercross on a street with pawnshops from Turin.
Selected as the best film at Mar del Plata in Argentina, the most important festival in South America, ”People That Are Not Me” is the exuberant debut of the Israeli director Hadas Ben Aroya, who also plays the leading role. The film is the portrait of a young woman who is unable to accept the separation from her former lover and who, casually, has sexual relations with strangers.
”We took the lead – it is a female directors’ competition. Five of the six films are directed or co-directed by a woman. It was not specifically my intention, but I’m glad it came out this way. Four films have their first Romanian screening. It is a competition with original and touching films, which once again show us why we love so much cinema”, says the competition curator, the film critic Ionuţ Mareş.
The Ceau, Cinema! competition was created to provide the setting for the cinematographic expression of film makers from countries with established minorities in the Banat region (Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary).
The fourth edition of Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival will take place on July 20th – 23rd in Timişoara and Gottlob, the first Romanian village with a modern cinema theatre.
Ceau, Cinema! Festival is dedicated to the European film and it is organized by the Association „Marele Ecran” and the Association „Pelicula Culturală”.
The entire event is brought to life by volunteers, with the support of: Timișoara City Hall, the National Center for Cinematography (CNC), the Timiş County Council, Vitas Romania, Kathrein Romania, Gottlob City Hall, Toluna, Autoclub (Volkswagen Center from Timişoara), the Czech Center from Bucharest, the Polish Institute from Bucharest, the French Institute from Timişoara, the Timiș County Direction for Culture, the German Cultural Center from Timişoara, the Embassy of Portugal in Bucharest, the Embassy of Sweden in Bucharest, Hotel Timişoara, Atelier Unu, AMBASADA, Enoteca Amphora Restaurant, Little Hanoi, EuCeMananc.
Media partners: Kiss FM, Ziarul Metropolis, TVR Timişoara, Radio Timişoara.