Film Synopses

Kristen Stewart stars in a queer love story set in the world of bodybuilding and organized crime in Love Lies Bleeding, a neo-noir thriller that premiered at Sundance this year. In 1989, gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls in love with ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian), who trains at her gym. Their love story becomes significantly complicated when Jackie gets involved in the organized crime world that Lou’s family is part of. Love Lies Bleeding is the second film by British director Rose Glass, who won the Best Debut Director award at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) in 2020. The cast also includes Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, The Hunger Games, The Neon Demon, Nocturnal Animals), Anna Baryshnikov (Manchester by the Sea), and Ed Harris (Pollock, The Hours, Westworld). The film is distributed in Romania by Bad Unicorn and will be released in cinemas on July 5.

The Holdovers reunites acclaimed director Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti 20 years after the cult film Sideways in an emotional story about three lonely people stranded at a boarding school in New England during the winter break of 1970. Paul Giamatti plays a grumpy history teacher at a prestigious American school who is forced to stay on campus during the Christmas break to take care of students who have nowhere to go. He eventually forms an unexpected bond with one of them, a smart and troubled young man played by newcomer Dominic Sessa, and the school’s cook, who has just lost her son in Vietnam, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Randolph has won the Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards for this role. The screening of the film on June 9 will be followed by a Q&A with director Alexander Payne (online), moderated by film producer Rose Kuo, who will be present in Bucharest.

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Connected to Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, AIFF is a festival dedicated to North American independent films, outside of Hollywood conventions. Over its seven editions, the festival has presented a selection of the latest critically acclaimed independent productions from the USA, selected in major North American festivals such as Sundance, New York, Tribeca, Telluride, and Toronto, as well as major international festivals like Berlin, Venice, and Cannes. The festival has had the honor of hosting internationally renowned actors such as Joaquin Phoenix, Ethan Hawke, John C. Reilly, Sebastian Stan, Mary-Louise Parker, and directors like Roberto Minervini and Jacques Audiard, who accepted the invitations to be present in Bucharest and share their professional and personal experiences with the audience. The festival has also facilitated live conversations between the Bucharest cinephile audience and some of the great directors of contemporary American cinema: Barry Jenkins, Sean Baker, Kent Jones, Paul Schrader, Benh Zeitlin, and Steven Spielberg.

AIFF 8 is organized by the Cinemascop Association, and it is funded by the Ministry of Culture, the Embassy of the United States of America in Romania*, and the National Center of Cinematography.

With support from Banca Transilvania, Pepsi, and the Romanian Cultural Institute

Festival partners: Bran Castle, the Bran Domain Administration Company, the French Institute in Romania, Cinema Elvire Popesco, Cinema Muzeul Țăranului, Europa Cinemas, Eventbook

Local partner: KunSTadt Cultural Association

Main media partner: PRO TV

Media partners: Agerpres, Libertatea, ELLE Romania, Scena9, Revista Biz, Haute Culture Magazine, Zile și Nopți, IQads, Igloo, Cultura la Dubă, Films in Frame, Observator Cultural, Cinemagia, Cinefan, Cinefilia, Cine Ghid, MovieNews, Liternet, Revista FILM

Monitoring partner: MediaTrust

This project is partially funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The opinions, findings, and conclusions presented during the project belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State.