ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Shortfusion @ Cambridge Film Festival

Romanian cinema has undergone a renaissance in recent years - witness: 2007 Cannes winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days and acclaimed releases such as The Death of Mr Lazarescu, 12:08 East of Bucharest and California Dreamin'. Proving that these were not isolated successes and the industry has plenty of new talent breaking through, Romanian films picked up the best short film awards at both this year's Berlin Film Festival (A Good Day For a Swim) and Cannes (Megatron).

Curated and introduced by film critic and TIFF (Transylvania International Film Festival) director Mihai Chirilov, Shortfusion features both these festival winners as part of a showcase of the best new Romanian cinema.

The films not only capture the spirit of our times, but also portrait a country in transition. Ranging from drama to comedy and faux thriller, the shorts are realistic slices of life, unfolding almost in real time and smartly hiding sweet, bitter or bitter-sweet social comments.
Mihai Chirilov

Mihai Chirilov about New Romanian Shorts. (English version only)

Programme

• The Boxing Lesson (2007) by Alexandru Mavrodineanu
  A businessman from Bucharest takes his 12 years old son to boxing classes. But Vlad refuses to take the first training. To teach him a lesson, the father enters the boxing ring himself.





• Megatron (2008) by Marian Crisan
  Maxim lives with his mother in a village near Bucharest. It's Maxim birthday; he's turning 8. His mother takes him to Bucharest, to McDonald's. Maxim will do anything to meet his father who lives in the city.





• A Good Day For a Swim (2007) by Bogdan Mustata
  It's early in the morning and a 36 years old prostitute is waiting at a crossroad for the next client. A van stops and she's pulled inside. The vehicle descends on a deserted beach and three wild boys start playing adult power games.





• Life's hard (2008) by Gabriel Sarbu
  In one of Bucharest's endless traffic jams, a bag snatcher strikes up a strange relationship with his female victim.






• Waves (2007) by Adrian Sitaru
  A beautiful Western woman asks a Gypsy to watch her four-year-old child while she is taught to swim by a flirtatious married man. Then she disappears into the sea.





• The Yellow Smiley Face (2008) by Constantin Popescu
  A moving comedy about two parents who do not know anything about computers, but try to use Yahoo Messenger for chatting with their son in America.

Shortfusion is a project developed by the Romanian Cultural Institute in partnership with the Cambridge and Brighton Film Festivals. The programme will be presented in Brighton on 27 November 2008, followed by Q&A with director Gabriel Sarbu (Life's hard).

When: Friday, 26 September; 2:45 pm
Where: Arts Picturehouse, 38-39 St Andrew's Street, Cambridge CB2 3AR
Admission: free.