Charleston,
Andrei Creţulescu`s feature directorial debut, will be released in the Romanian cinemas on June 8, 2018. The film is distributed in Romania and the Republic of Moldova by Kinosseur.
A few weeks after his wife`s death, Ioana, and on the evening of his 42nd birthday, Alexandru receives a “gift” at least strange: the visit of Sebastian, a bit younger than him, who claims to have been Ioana`s lover the last five
months…more or less.
Charleston is the bitter-sweet story of an absurd love triangle made of two men and the woman they both lost; it`s un unconventional love story, with some retro vibe, a pop cocktail spiced up with black humour, emotions, an eclectic soundtrack and even a dancing interlude.
The film features
Şerban Pavlu,
Radu Iacoban,
Ana Ciontea,
Victor Rebengiuc,
Ana Ularu,
Dorian Boguţă, Gabriela Popescu,
Adrian Titieni,
Andreea Vasile,
Gavril Pătru,
Gheorghe Ifrim,
Lucian Ifrim,
Sergiu Costache,
Alina Berzunţeanu. The cript was written by Andrei Creţulescu, the cinematography is signed by
Barbu Bălășoiu,
Cătălin Cristuţiu is the editor,
Mălina Ionescu is the art director, the original music was composed by Massimiliano Nardulli and the
sound design was signed by
Marius Leftărache. The soundtrack includes songs sung by Get Well Soon, Dengue Fever, Pretties for You, Harlequin_Jack, Noir Désir and Pipe’s Not Dead!
Charleston had the world premiere in August 2017, in the official competition of the
2017 Locarno Film Festival. Then, the film was screened in different festivals in Chicago, Warsaw, Braunschweig, Zagreb, Salonic, Cairo, Bilbao and Minsk, where it received a special award of the jury, for “bringing a breath of fresh air to the Romanian cinema”. Most of these screenings were
sold out – following the enthusiastic reaction of the audience, the Locarno festival organized another screening. “The 2018 festival tour” started in February, when the film was presented in the Travelling Festival in Rennes and continues in March/April, when the film will be screened in the competition of the Kino Pvasaris Festival from Vilnius.
“It`s fairly rare for a Romanian film to have such large audience potential” cineuropa.org considers, while Chicago Sun-Times finds that “
Charleston is less cynical than the films of the New Romanian Wave and it`s rather tender-minded”, “last but not least,
Charleston is a good film thanks to the impeccable acting recital of the main actors” (nonsolocinema.it); “Comparing it with P.T.Anderson`s Magnolia may seem a sacrilege, but the daring
Charleston comes through with ambition and pride” (otroscineseuropa.com); „
Charleston is very clever and often terribly funny and always honest and warm” (nospoilerreviewz.com); „Andrei Crețulescu follows in Jarmusch and Kaurismaki`s footsteps” (zelluloid.de); “A tender surrealism, shot with the same obsessive rigor from the first to the last take,
Charleston can be told as well as danced. Adorable!” (pascalgavillet.ch). These are only a few considerations of the European and American critics. “A series of philosophical reflections and with a pinch of funny sarcasm(…)
Charleston is at the same time funny and touching”, the online prestigious magazine
Senses of cinema concludes.
Charleston is a Romanian-French production – ICON Production and Les Films du Tambour, made in coproduction with Mille et Une Films and Wag Prod, with the support of the Romanian Film Centre, The Group, Publicis Groupe, Region Bretagne, Rennes Metropole, in association with Kinosseur, Wearebasca, Digital Cube and with the participation of HBO Europe. The producers are
Velvet Moraru, Marie Legrand, Rani Massalha și Andrei Crețulescu. The international sales agent is the French company Versatile. The media promotion is made by ROLLERCOASTER PR.
