Six films from Austria, Croatia, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine shall contend this year for the Grand Award and the Audience Award on the third edition of Ceau, Cinema! Festival, which is to take place during July 14th – 17th in Timişoara.
Debut films or productions of already known authors, the six new titles bring a glance on the diversity and quality of Central and East-European art cinema. At its second edition, Ceau, Cinema! Competition puts forth both new comers and films nominated or winners at big festivals like those in Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo, Toronto, Thessalonica, Warsaw or Tallinn.
From Austria comes the second film of the director and musician Peter Brunner, one of the young talents of Austrian cinema. Winner of the Special Jury Award at Karlovy Vary in 2015, ”Those Who Fall Have Wings” is a poetic and sensuous film about a particularly sensitive teenage girl who is beginning to experience the hardship of life.
Well received at festivals from Gdynia, Rome or Glasgow, ”These Daughters of Mine”, the second film of the Polish director Kinga Debska, features some of the currently most popular Polish actors. A film on a universal and moving topic: the challenge of two sisters to face the idea that their parents eventually approach the end of their lives.
The second film in the competition by a female director is ”Song of Songs”), the third feature film of the Ukrainian director Eva Neymann, who lives in Germany. Screened in festivals like those from Karlovy Vary, Toronto or Salonic and praised for its bold and unconventional style, ”Song of Songs” tells the story of a girl and a boy secretly fancying eachother, in a Jewish community in the dawn of 20th century.
Showed in 2015 during a special screening at Cannes, where it was nominated for Camera d’Or and in competition at Sarajevo, ”Panama” is the debut of the young Serbian director Pavle Vuckovic. Pulsing with life and passion, it is a film on an extremely fresh topic, more precisely the devouring obsession of a young man for an attractive and misterious girl.
From Russia comes a new and refreshing breakthrough, ”Cold Front”, the debut as a director of a former influential film reviewer, Roman Volobuev. A sentimental thriller, where the relationship of a bored couple – who went during the winter holiday to live in an isolated house on the seaside, in the North of France – is challenged by the arrival of a beautiful Russian woman, whose intentions are not quite clear.
Present in festivals from Warsaw, Belgrade or Sofia, ”Life is a Trumpet” is the fourth feature film of Antonio Nuic, famous Croatian director born in Bosnia. Moving and full of humour at the same time, ”Life is a Trumpet” is an uplifting dramedy on the tricky problems and relationships of a contemporary family.
„It was difficult for me to only choose six titles from the several scores of films that I’ve seen. I tried to attain a balanced competition, which should introduce both breakthrough films and productions of more popular directors. I believe they are six ambitious, intriguing and, why not, moving films”, said the film critic Ionuț Mareș, who is the Ceau, Cinema! Competition curator.
The actors Alina Ilea and Alexandru Papadopol and the director Răzvan Georgescu make up the jury of the second edition of Ceau, Cinema! Competition, who will assign the winner of the Grand Award, amounting 1.000 euro.
The viewers will vote for the Audience Award in amount of 500 euro, granted with the support of Kathrein Romania. At this third edition, with the support of Vitas Romania, a special trophee, valuing 500 euro, will be awarded to one independent or debut film. The films from all the festival sections shall be eligible for this trophee.
In 2015, the Ceau, Cinema! Award was taken by „The Mighty Angel”, of the Polish director Wojciech Smarzowski, while the Audience Award went to „Afterlife”, of the Hungarian female director Virag Zomboracz.
Ceau, Cinema! Competition provides 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, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary).
The third edition of Ceau, Cinema! will take place during July 14th – 17th, in Timișoara and Gottlob (the first village from the rural Romania owning a fully renovated cinema). 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 worked out by volunteers, with the support of: Vitas Romania, Kathrein Romania, Timișoara City Hall, the Timiș County Direction for Culture, the National Center for Cinematography (CNC), Gottlob Town Hall, Autoclub (the Volkswagen center Timișoara), the Polish Institute from Bucharest, the French Institute from Timișoara, the German Cultural Center from Timișoara, the Goethe Institute, the Embassy of Portugal in Romania, ”Timișoara” Hotel, AMBASADA, Atelier Unu. Media partners: Radio Timișoara, TVR Timișoara, Ziarul Metropolis, 24 FUN, Kiss FM, Banatul AZI.