A selection of ten films awarded with the Palme d’Or at Cannes can be seen at the 10th edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, at the Union Cinematheque. The films will be preceded by short video interviews with some of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, who will provide an answer to the following question: How has cinema changed in the last 30 years and where is it headed?
At the same time, the 10th edition of Les Films de Cannes brings the most anticipated films of the year to Romania, sprawling over 10 of its cities: besides Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, there will be festival editions in Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Botoșani, Brașov, Arad, Suceava, Brăila and Slobozia.
Between the 18th and 20th of October, cinephiles will be able to enjoy awarded films from the Croisette in Cluj-Napoca, at Victoria Cinema, in an edition financed by the Cluj-Napoca Town Hall and the Local Council, in Timișoara at the West University of Timișoara’s Aula Magna, with the support of the Timișoara Town Hall and the Cultural Community Center Timișoara, and in Iași at the Athenaeum Cinema, with the support of the Iași Town Hall and the National Athenaeum Iași.
Unirea Cinema in Botoșani will host Les Films de Cannes, between 20th and 22nd October, at the first edition presented by Elsaco and the Botoșani Town Hall.
Then there is Brașov, with its third edition, which takes place at the Reduta Cultural Center and at One Cinema, between 23rd and 27th October, financed by the Brașov Local Council.
Films then move on to Arad, Arta Cinema, between 25th and 27th October, with the support of the Municipal Cultural Center in Arad. In November, the festival reaches Suceava, Modern Cinema, between the 1st and 3rd of November, where the fourth edition is organized by the Radio As Association in partnership with City of Suceava and the Suceava Local Council. Les Films de Cannes also arrives in Brăila, Cinefeel Cinema, between 15th and 17th November, in colaboration with the Cinefeel Association, and then finally in Slobozia – Municipal Center of Culture.
In Bucharest, in addition to the traditional cinema theaters of the festival (Elvire Popesco Cinema, Pro Cinema, Peasent Museum Cinema), the screenings will also take place in the Auditorium Hall of the Romanian National Museum of Arts and at Instituto Cervantes.
Among the productions that will screen at the editions of the festival all over the country are the public and jury’s favourite films from this year’s edition of Cannes: Parasite (Palme d’Or), Dolor y Gloria (Best Actor Award, Antonio Banderas), Matthias et Maxime (Official Competition), Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Best Screenplay Award) or Little Joe (Best Actress Award, Emily Beecham).
Actor Vlad Ivanov and filmmaker Adi Voicu, two of the Romanian representatives at this year’s edition of Cannes, will be present at several Les Films de Cannes in the country.
“I really want to be in a part that is powerful and which comes from very deep inside. Even if it’s just in a sequence”, Vlad Ivanov declared in an interview for the American publication Variety. The actor, one of the most versatile and appreciated European performers of his time, to whom Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest devotes the anniversary section Ivanov 50, will open the first edition of Les Films de Cannes in Botoşani. The opening screening will be La Gomera, film with which the actor was present at Cannes this year, for the fifth time in the Official Competition – a record for a Romanian actor.
Filmmaker Adi Voicu will go to Cluj, Brașov and Suceava with the short film The Last Trip to the Seaside, included this year in the selection of the La Semaine de la Critique section.
The “voice” of films from the ‘80s, film critic Irina Margareta Nistor will present in Iași, Brașov, and in Bucharest, as well at the Instituto Cervantes, for the documentary Cannes, le festival libre, directed by Frédéric Chaudier și Frédéric Zamochnikoff (2018), which follows the attempt of organizing the first edition of the Cannes Film Festival in 1939, a failure because of the breaking out of the Second World War. The screenings will be accompanied by the presentation of the book Cannes 1939, le festival qui n’a pas eu lieu, by Olivier Loubes (Libris & Mioritic Publishing House, 2019), translated into Romanian by Irina Margareta Nistor. Irina Margareta Nistor will meet with the public for book and film discussions in each of these cities. At the same time, Irina Margareta Nistor will introduce screenings at Les Films de Cannes à Iași and Brașov and will be Vlad Ivanov’s discussion partner on November 20th, in Botoșani.
10 Palmes d’Or for the 10th edition
At the 10th edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, the public will be able to discover or re-watch ten of the Palme d’Or awarded masterpieces. They will screen from the first until the last day of the festival, at Union Cinema.
Entre les murs, directed by Laurent Cantet / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2008
“Vibrant and sharp, this hybrid of documentary and dramatic intrigue contemplates the present and future of France by zooming in on a teacher and his students in a periphery school. and The film raises important questions about learning, authority and discipline, and is honest enough to admit that it doesn’t really have any answers.” Times UK
Dheepan, directed by Jacques Audiard / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2015
An exciting, humanist story about survival. A heart-breaking saga about three strangers brought together by circumstances and personal struggles, Dheepan embodies a tour de force thriller. “Like the best fiction, it takes the most incomprehensible stories of our time and makes them hauntingly, inescapably clear.” Washington Post
The Square, directed by Ruben Östlund / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2017
“Navigating the nexus of hype, commerce, ego, and bullshit that drives the modern art scene, The Square is almost too perfect in its cunning simplicity. The art world’s always been easy to drag, what with its interiority, weirdos, and frustrating games of pin-the-tail-on-the-thesis. […] But rarely are these ideas lampooned so beautifully. Ruben Östlund’s barbed take on the emptiness of modern art culture is savagely hilarious.” Consequence of Sound
I, Daniel Blake, directed by Ken Loach / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2016
“Writer-director Ken Loach has been making movies about the British working class since the mid-60s, and this masterful dramatic feature proves that even after all these years he can still work himself up into righteous, white-hot rage. A captivating story, profoundly humane, about the impact one single man can have.” Chicago Reader
La vie d’Adèle, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2013
“La vie d’Adèle left me so astounded that I had to walk aimlessly for an hour to get over its gut wrenching examination of our ability to love and lose so profoundly. After nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes the film builds to a series of scenes that make you feel like your heart has been scraped by a knife, leaving only a battered shell of veins intact. Forget all the talk of explicit and long sex scenes, these just small bits of La vie d’Adèle, a very modern story of love and its power over all of us. Is it really possible to feel so profoundly? And can we possibly move on?” Lowbrow Cinema
Shoplifters, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2018
“A film that just grows and grows and grows. It seems very quiet, but you are absolutely hooked.” FilmWeek
“Writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda fills the film with grace notes, humor and fine observations, circling and filling out each character while leaning more on innocence than corruption.” Detroit News
Amour, directed by Mikael Haneke / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2012
With astounding performances and a ruthless screenplay, Amour is an honest, devastating description of true love and responsibility. “A masterpiece, not just the best of the year, but one of the best ever: Michael Haneke’s Amour.” The New Republic
Winter Sleep, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2014
“Winter feels very much like an epic novel, mirroring the pacing and themes of Chekov, whose work was its inspiration.” Los Angeles Times
“Ceylan’s latest is a claustrophobic chamber piece spun out into a vast, rich and beautifully intricate tapestry.” CineVue
L’enfant, directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne / Palme d’Or, Cannes 2005
The Dardenne brothers continue to excel in making works of a rigorous naturalism, with detached observations on authentic heroes torubled by complex moral dilemmas. “Unfolding in real time on the scruffy working-class streets of industrial Belgium, this harrowingly intense odyssey charts Bruno’s desperate search for redemption.” Newsweek
Un homme et une femme, directed by Claude Lelouch / Palme d’Or, Cannes 1966
“A tender, beautiful and charming romantic movie… with dialogues that are both meaningless and meaningful, shallow and deep. Beautifully written and developed, the leading characters feel real and very relatable, and yet there’s something about them, maybe it’s their beauty, that makes them exceptional…” A Film a Day
The complete program of all editions of Les Films de Cannes in the country will soon be available on filmedefestival.ro.
Tickets for the Bucharest edition will be available to the public starting October 1st on Eventbook.ro.
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is presented by Orange Romania, a traditional partner of the event.
Official Car of the Festival: Renault.
With the support of: Catena, Apa Nova, Groupama Asigurări.
The tenth edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is organized by the Cinemascop Association and Voodoo Films, in partnership with Embassy of France and the French Institute in Bucharest.
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is a cultural project financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, the National Centre of Cinematography, and and realized with the support of SACD / Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques.
Partners: Air France, KLM, The Romanian Cultural Institute, Europa Cinemas, Hotel Mercure, SERVE, UPS, Eventbook.
Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Elle, Zile și Nopți, Cinemap, News.ro, Agerpres, Observator Cultural, Igloo, Banchiza Urbană.