Six films about freedom, formerly selected at Venice, Cannes and Berlin, will be included in the competition section of the ninth edition of Ceau, Cinema! Festival, which will take place during July 14th – 17th in Timişoara. The jury will be made of actress Judith State and the two directors Cristina Groşan and Eugen Jebeleanu.
Three of the films competing for Ceau, Cinema! Award “Răzvan Georgescu” and for the Audience Award have had their world premiere last year, in the competition of Venice Festival.
“Reflection” (2021) is the latest feature film of the Ukrainian director Valentin Vasianovici. The disturbing production follows a surgeon who is captured by the Russian military forces in the conflict area in Eastern Ukraine, where he is exposed to horrific scenes of humiliation and violence. The screening will be a part of the section Focus Ukraine, a tribute to the Ukrainian resilience in the war that Russia started.
“Leave No Traces” (2021), directed by Jan P. Matuszynski, is a strong Polish drama on the fight for freedom of a young man witnessing the tragedy of a friend, the son of the anti-communist poet Barbara Sadowska, who was beaten to death by the police in Poland, in 1983. The film will be screened with the support of the Polish Institute from Bucharest.
The fascinating “The Hole” (“Il buco”, 2021), made by the Italian Michelangelo Frammartino, follows the extraordinary adventure of a group of speleologists who start exploring several unknown caves in the South of Italy, in August 1961. “The Hole” won the Special Jury Award at Venice and it is distributed in Romania by Independenţa Film.
Other two films included in the competition of Ceau, Cinema! come from the section Un Certain Regard of the 2021 edition of Cannes Festival.
“Great Freedom” (2021), an Austrian-German co-production, directed by the Austrian Sebastian Meise, follows the relationship that a man builds with a cellmate over several decades, during his repeated times of confinement in a German post-war prison based on the law incriminating homosexuality. The film won the Jury Award in the section Un Certain Regard at Cannes and the Grand Award at Sarajevo, and will be screened at Timişoara with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum from Bucharest.
One of the recent most appreciated and bold Bulgarian films, “Women do Cry” (2021), directed by Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva, is focused on a single gender family – female -, in a society where the word “gender” is not a familiar one.
“All Eyes off Me” (2021), the second feature film of the Israeli director Hadas Ben Aroya comes from the Panorama section of Berlin’s last year edition. A bold film bringing into discussion the sexual freedom through the story of a young woman whose fantasies collide with reality.
“Although apparently different, the six films question a few of the many meanings that the idea of freedom used to have in the past and has nowadays, in line with the political theme of the festival’s ninth edition. The competition is a provocative one, both through the films’ subject and through the form that each of the directors chose”, says the competition curator, the film critic Ionuţ Mareş.
The six films will compete for Ceau, Cinema! Award “Răzvan Georgescu”, in amount of € 1.000 and offered by Groupama Ensurance, and the Audience Award, in amount of € 500. The Ceau, Cinema! trophies are created by the artist Lia Pfeiffer.
The Ceau, Cinema! Competition provides a context for the artistic expression of filmmakers originating from countries with traditional minorities in the Banat region.
The jury is made of actress Judith State and the directors Cristina Groşan and Eugen Jebeleanu.
Judith State is a professional dancer, choreographer and actress, known for her characters in films like “Sieranevada”, “Monsters”, “Malmkrog” or “The Father Who Moves Mountains”. She will meet with the Ceau, Cinema! audience in a Q&A session after a special screening of the latest film in which she plays, “R.M.N.” (2022), directed by Cristian Mungiu, which had its world premiere in the competition of Cannes Festival.
Cristina Groşan is a film director activating both in Hungary and Romania, where she made several short films. Her first feature film, the Hungarian production “Things Worth Weeping for” (2021), selected in the last year’s competition of Sarajevo Festival, will be screened in premiere in Timişoara at Ceau, Cinema!
Born in Timişoara, Eugen Jebeleanu started his career as an actor, then he became a theater and film director. His debut in film direction, the multiple award winner “Poppy Field” (2020), will also have a special screening during the festival.
The screenings of the ninth edition will take place at Cinema Victoria, Capitol Outdoor Theater, Capitol indoor cinema at Banat Philharmonic, Traian Square and Faber.
More details on the festival are available on ceaucinema.ro, as well as on the related Facebook and Instagram pages.
Ceau, Cinema! Festival is dedicated to European cinema and is organized by the Associations Pelicula Culturală and Marele Ecran.
Funded by Timișoara CityHall, through the Project Center.
Project funded by the Timiș County Council through the Nonrefundable Funding Program TimCultura 2022.
Sponsors: Groupama Ensurance, HELLA Romania, Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim.
Main cultural partners: the German Cultural Center from Timişoara, the Polish Institute from Bucharest, the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest, the Liszt Institute – the Hungarian Cultural Center Bucharest, the French Institute from Timișoara, the Czech Center Bucharest.
Supported by: Porsche Timişoara, Tazz, Little Hanoi, Ibis Timisoara City Center, Ovride, InLight Center, ”Cartea Călătoare” Foundation, ”Ceva de Spus” Association, ”Cetăţean de Traian” Association, Faber, Cinema Victoria, Banat National Museum, Animest, Cinemazero Cultural Association, ”Prin Banat” Association, Timişoara la cutie, the House of Arts – the County Direction for Culture Timiş, Gottlob Mairie, Claudia Roşu, La Două Bufniţe, iaBilet, Hostel Cornel.
Media partners: Kiss FM, All about Romanian Cinema (AaRC), Ziarul Metropolis.