The 12th edition, held exceptionally online, of the international comedy festival Film 4 Fun ended on Sunday evening, August 2, 2020, after four days of film viewings on the
Film4Fun.ro website.
This year’s international jury – made up of Croatian director, screenwriter and producer Pavo Marinkoivć, Romanian film critic, historian and professor
Dana Duma and British editor, producer and director Steve Teers – has decided to award the competition’s top prize, for the Best Short Film, to the Polish film
No Place Like Lockdown, directed by Mariusz Kuczewski. The award for Best Director went to the Dutch filmmaker Jörgen Scholtens for his film
Cuckoo!, and the award for Best Screenplay went to the Turkish production
The Sugar Grocer, directed by Ferman Narin, with the screenplay written by Ferman Narin and Kendal Öztürk. Film 4 Fun festival awarded a Special Mention for the 12th edition to the French film
I’m So Far, written and directed by Léo Grandperret.
For three days, between July 30 and August 1, viewers from all over the world watched and scored on the Film4Fun.ro website the 48 comedy short films representing 20 countries, included in the 12th edition’s competition. The votes cast online decided the Audience Award, which this year went to the Greek film
Musical?, directed by Elena Palla.
The closing gala of the online edition, hosted by the festival’s website, also included the awarding of the traditional Film 4 Fun trophy. At each edition, it rewards an important Romanian film, theatre and television actor, whose remarkable career comprises memorable comic roles. This year, the trophy was given to the beloved actress
Magda Catone, an old friend of the festival. In an emotional moment, Magda Catone received the Film 4 Fun trophy from
Laura Georgescu Baron, the director and initiator of the festival, and from the actor Carol Ionescu, her son, who paid tribute to his mother through an online speech.
At the previous editions of the festival, the Film 4 Fun trophy was also handed out, on the stage of Casino Sinaia, to the actors Stela Popescu, Draga Olteanu-Matei, Rodica Popescu-Bitănescu, Gheorghe Visu, Coca Bloos, Radu Gabriel and Ion Dichiseanu.
The director of Film 4 Fun, the producer, editor and professor Laura Georgescu Baron, stated at the end of the online edition of the festival: “I must say that I was pleasantly impressed by the large number of viewers from many countries who accessed the Film 4 Fun’s festival website. Thank you for joining us for this special edition. I hope that at the 13th edition of the festival we will meet face to face, without protective masks and antibacterial wipes”.
The film critic
Mihai Fulger, the artistic director of the festival, also noted: “This year's competition was strong and the members of the jury, to whom we are grateful for their involvement, did not have an easy mission. We are looking forward to Film 4 Fun 2021, with a firm belief that, although the next edition will be the 13th edition of the festival, we will be lucky to meet the public offline as well, in the wonderful city of Sinaia”.
Film 4 Fun is organized by Cine Remember Foundation, with the support of the Romanian Film Centre. Special thanks go to Sinaia City Hall (a traditional partner of Film 4 Fun) and Casino Sinaia. This year’s edition was sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, High-Tech, Horizon, Loncolor, Stalinskaya and Rotenberg Winery. AaRC (All about Romanian Cinema), Film, Radio Guerilla and Cinemagia were the festival’s media partners.
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