ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Romanian documentary @ Voyages

To celebrate the wealth and diversity of contemporary documentary films in Europe, various European cultural institutes and embassies in London and the European Commission Representation in the UK have collaborated on Voyages, a ten-day festival showcasing the work of new and established directors from across the continent.

Screenings include The Great Communist Bank Robbery by acclaimed Romanian director Alexandru Solomon, on 4 December, 6.45 pm. Q&A with the director will follow.

In 1959, in Romania, six former members of the nomenklatura and the secret police organize a hold up of the National Bank. After their arrest, the state forces them to play themselves in a film which reconstitutes the crime and the investigation. At the end of their trial, broadcast live on television, they are sentenced to death and executed. A month later, the film Reconstitution was released and became a sensation throughout the country. Today, Alexandru Solomon retraces this incredible story.

"The film is a moving, occasionally absurd and often riveting insight into life behind the Iron Curtain". (Time Out)

Voyages is the first joint project of the EUNIC London cluster (European Union National Institutes for Culture in London) which aims to improve and promote cultural diversity and understanding between European societies.

Alexandru Solomon's participation is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London.

When: 4 December 2007, 6.45 pm;
Where: Ciné lumière at the Institut francais, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW 2DT
Box office: 020 7073 1350 (£5, conc 4)