ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Why Are the Bells Ringing, Mitica? @ Romanian Cinematheque

         

Romania | 1981 | 83 min | dir: Lucian Pintilie | cast: Victor Rebengiuc, Mariana Mihut, Tora Vasilescu, Gheorghe Dinica, Mircea Diaconu
In Romanian with English subtitles.

Inspired by the work of the iconic Romanian playwright I.L. Caragiale, a bitter-funny witness of the 20th turn-of-the-century Romanian bourgeois mores, the movie manages to grasp the cheap, frantic and colourful atmosphere of Caragiale's plays.

The great Romanian director, Lucian Pintilie, turns the classical, linear plot of one of the best known Caragiale's plays, D'ale Carnavalului / Carnival Stories, into a zigzagged scenario, combining it with several other Caragiale's short-stories. The result is a weird combination of burlesque carnival scenes and short, alienated insertions.

The film's grey, violent tone made the communist regime ban the movie exactly after production, rightly considering it as criticism of Ceausescu's dictatorship.

Romanian Cinematheque is a project developed by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London with the support of National Centre for Cinematography in Romania (CNC).

When: Wed 11 May 2011, 7pm;
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute London.
Free entrance. To attend please email office@icr-london.co.uk or call 0207 752 0134.
Early booking recommended.