Q&A with director Barry Jenkins, winner of the Oscar for Best Motion Picture 2017

Best Motion Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay are three Oscar awards out of eight nominations that went to the film “Moonlight” directed by Barry Jenkins. On Friday, September 15, the director will open the American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest with a Q&A via Skype with the Romanian audience at the end of the screening of this film. The screening is scheduled to take place at Cinemateca Eforie, at 18:15. The tickets to the festival are already available on Eventim.ro. The program is available here.

“I think it’s important people see themselves in film, but it’s even more important they see people they maybe don’t know as well.” says Barry Jenkins about “Moonlight“, a story on human relationships and self-discovery, that won over 150 awards. The Hollywood Reporter: “Its story may be sprinkled with drug dealers and addicts. But its message is clear: The world is richer and deeper and more complex than we ever imagined, and even its most troubled characters — just like us — are looking for love… ” The film is distributed in Romania by Transilvania Film.

“Novitiate” by Maggi Betts and “Patti Cake$” directed by Geremy Jasper, are other two coming-of-age stories, both feature debuts from the official selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, that will be presented for the first time in Romania at the American Independent Film Festival. Spanning over a decade from the early 1950s through to the mid-60s, “Novitiate” is about a young girl’s first initiation with love, in this case with God. Raised by a non-religious, single mother in rural Tennessee, a scholarship to Catholic school soon finds Cathleen drawn into the mystery and romanticism of a life devoted to the worship and servitude of God. Maggi Betts won the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Director. The film is scheduled on September 18^th, at 21:00, at CinemaPRO with a second screening on September 19, 18.30h, at Cinemateca Eforie and is distributed in Romania by InterCom Film.

Straight from Jersey, with humor, raw energy and some unforgettable beats, comes the story of Patti Cake$, “The perfect movie hero of 2017” (IndieWire), the debut of acclaimed commercial and music-video director Geremy Japser. “Patti Cake$” is set in gritty strip-mall suburbia, and chronicles an underdog’s quest for fame and glory, with Danielle Macdonald as leading actress. It was presented in Cannes (Quinzaine des réalisateurs) and selected in the South by Southwest Film Festival. Distributed in by Odeon Cineplex, the film will premiere in Romania on September 15, at 21.15h, at Cinemateca Eforie.

“Paterson” by Jim Jarmusch is also set in New Jersey and it was screened in competition in Cannes. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details. The screenings are on September 17, 16.00h, at CinemaPRO and September 18, 20.45, at Cinemateca Eforie. The title is distributed in Romania by Voodoo Films.

The American Independent Film Festival will also screen for the first time in Romania the thriller “Wind River” –awarded with Best Director Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2017 – directed by Taylor Sheridan, screenwriter of films such as “Sicario” or “Hell or High Water”, Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name” (“Io sono l’amore”, 2009), selected at Sundance and Berlin or the drama “They“, feature debut of director Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, produced by Jane Campion and currently competing at the Deauville Festival.

The complete selection and schedule will be updated on this website and Facebook page American Independent Film Festival.

Tickets to the festival are available for 15 lei on Eventim.ro and the Eventim network (shops: Germanos, Carrefour, Orange Shop, Vodafone, Carturesti and Humanitas bookshops, OMV gas stations) and Eventim offices (Bucharest: I.C.Bratianu Bd. 6, at the Cinema Pro venue Cluj: Alexandru Vaida-Voevod 53B – Iulius Mall).

The American Independent Film Festival is organized by the Cinemascop Association in partnership with the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, supported by Catena.

With the support of: Embassy of the United States in Romania, American Chamber of Commerce in Romania – AmCham Romania, TAP AIR Portugal.

Official car: BMW.

Partners: OvidiuRo Association, CinemaPRO, National Film Archive – Cinemateca Română (ANF), RoImage, InterCom Film, Odeon Cineplex, Voodoo Films, Pro Video, Transilvania Film, Eventim, Cărtureşti, Media Image Factory.

Seen by: Radio Guerrilla.

Media partners: Agerpres, Ziare.com, Zile si Nopți, Sensotv.ro Cinemagia, Cinefan, IQads, Ziarul Metropolis, PRWave, A List Magazine, Urban.ro, Avantaje, Inoras.ro, umblat.ro, AARC.ro, Liternet, Filme-Carti.ro, Scena9.

Credit photo Barry Jenkins © David Bornfriend