The producer Anamaria Antoci, the actor Alexandru Potocean and the film critic Cătălin Olaru will make up the Competition jury of the fourth edition of Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival, which will take place between 20th – 23rd of July in Timişoara and Gottlob.
The three members of the Ceau, Cinema! Competition jury will give the Grand Award, in amount of €1.500.
Anamaria Antoci is one of the most popular young producers from Romania, working for ”4 Proof Film”. The first feature film that she produced was ”Illegitimate” („Ilegitim”), directed by Adrian Sitaru. For this film, she received the Young Hopeful Trophy at the 2017 edition of the Gopo Awards.
In 2016, Anamaria Antoci produced ”The Fixer” („Fixeur”), a feature film directed by the same Adrian Sitaru, and her first documentary, ”Planet Petrila” („Planeta Petrila”), directed by Andrei Dăscălescu. Since last year, Anamaria Antoci has also been a member of the European Film Academy.
Born in 1984 in Timişoara, Alexandru Potocean is one of the most appreciated young actors on the Romanian theatre and cinema scene. He graduated in 2007 The National University of Theatre and Film „I.L. Caragiale” from Bucharest.
He made his debut in cinema in 2005, while he was still a student, in ”The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu” („Moartea domnului Lăzărescu”) (d. Cristi Puiu). In his early career, he played in two of the most important films of the Romanian New Wave: ”The Paper Will Be Blue” („Hârtia va fi albastră”) (2006, d. Radu Muntean) and ”4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” („4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile”) (2007, d. Cristian Mungiu), which had won the Palme d`Or at Cannes.
He also played in films like ”Silent Wedding” („Nunta mută””, ”Tales from the Golden Age” („Amintiri din Epoca de Aur”), ”Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man” („Portretul luptătorului la tinereţe”), „The Way Back”, „03.ByPass”, ”By the Rails” („Dincolo de calea ferată”) or „Mariţa”. In 2017 he was selected for the famous program Berlinale Talents within Berlin Film Festival.
Cătălin Olaru is a film critic and the artistic director of Divan Film Festival and HipTrip Travel Film Festival. Since 2009, he has been a contributor for the magazines Cultura, FILM and Kamikaze, as well as for the blogs „Adevărul” and the sites postmodern.ro and catalinolaru.ro. In 2012 he became the first winner of the „Alex Leo Şerban” grant for film critic, awarded within the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) by the Association for the Promotion of the Romanian Film (Asociaţia pentru Promovarea Filmului Românesc).
Since December 2013, he has been a member of UCIN (the Association of Film Critics) and FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique). He is the author of the critic study ”Mircea Daneliuc – Microphone Test” („Mircea Daneliuc – Proba de microfon”), published in 2016 within the program „Éducation à l’image” of the NexT Cultural Society. He contributed for the collective volume „Politicile filmului. Contribuţii la interpretarea cinemaului românesc contemporan” (Tact Editions, 2014), as well as for „Politicile filmului II” (to be published).
Beside the Ceau, Cinema! trophy assigned by the jury, the audience will vote, among the films in Competition, for the Audience Award, amounting €500 euro and granted with the support of Kathrein Romania.
As with the 2016 edition, a Vitas Romania Trophy will be awarded this year for one independent film or for a debut or second film, in value of €1.000. The films from all the festival sections shall be eligible for this prize, which will be assigned by Ceau, Cinema! and Vitas Romania.
The Ceau, Cinema! Competition, comprising six films, 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 Competition curator is the film critic Ionuţ Mareş.
Ceau, Cinema! festival is dedicated to the European cinema 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: 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.
Media partners: Kiss FM, Ziarul Metropolis, TVR Timişoara.