Film Report from the 2016 Berlinale: Romanian Films and Filmmakers

     The Berlin International Film Festival plays an important role in the film industry – the screenings represent a small part of its functions - and the most visible one. For instance, The Miracle of Tekir (directed by Ruxandra Zenide) did not have a screening for the public, but its being part of the Berlinale European Film Market is very positive because it enables meetings with internationational distribution companies.
The same happens with the Co-production Market (this year Ada Solomon was part of the jury) – it is very important for the production system, by means of the financings and partnerships that are settled here. Actually, the big festivals are alternative distribution and production platforms; even more, many of the films that travel the festivals don`t find their place in the commercial system – they are either experimental, or don`t have enough visibility to bring viewers who buy tickets.

    In Berlin, all the films are sold out. For the journalists who are accredited, press screenings are organized; separately,one day before the screening, they can book free tickets within the limit of the seats allocated to them, at the screenings for the large audiences. Most of the tickets are given in the first half part of the day. For instance, when I reached the press counter at 11 o`clock, the group of short films that One night in Tokoriki (directed by Roxana Stroe) was screened alongside, was sold out.

     I followed the official competition less (since most of the titles will come, sooner or later, to the Romanian cinemas as well). The problem with the big festivals - like Berlinale – is that they bring so many films you might be interested in, that it is impossible for you to cover all of them in ten days. So, I gave up the films that I considered I might have a chance of seeing in other Romanian festivals or in cinemas and I chose the films with small chances of being chosen by the International distributors. I made a few exceptions for the directors I was interested in and for the Romanian films that for sure I could have seen back home as well.
        The most important Romanian premiere at the 2016 Berlinale was Illegitimate, directed by Adrian Sitaru, screened in the Forum section. The screening took place on the 13th of February, starting with 7.30 p.m. at the Cinema Zoo Palast 2 and it was followed by a q&a session with the team members. The film shows a dysfunctional family – the first minutes cast loose an irrecoverable conflict which gradually reveals the effects of parental aggressiveness. The film is the result of the collaboration between Adrian Sitaru and the actress Alina Grigore; they developed the topic for an exercise with the students from Alina`s acting school.
     For a year and a half, the students have been working on their characters, just like being part of a workshop – they developed their biographies, they made exercises, they even discussed with a psychologist in order to better understand their characters`behavior. They didn`t have any screenplay, not even on the set, they were only given a few hints by the director about what was going to be developed the next day. The narrative structure depends on the acting exercise, because the story does not unfolds according to the events, but on the clashing between the characters and on the actors` willingness to show vulnerability.In Illegitimate, Adrian Titieni plays the part of the head of the Anghelescu family, a man who has been a widow for a year and whose three adult children confront him when they find out that he was one of the doctors who gave reports about the illegal abortions that took place during the communist age. The argument grows and it reveals the father`s abusive behavior, but also the effects that this kind of upbringing may have upon the emotional instability of his children. 
     Hotel Dallas is a Romania/USAco-production, directed by Livia Ungur and Sheng-Lee Huang. Its premiere was on the 15th of February, in one of the CineStar halls, in the  PanoramaDokumente section. The film has the intention to speculate upon the influence of the popular American culture in the communist Romania in common with Chuck Norris vs. Comunism (directed by Ilinca Călugăreanu), but it doesn`t share its ideological naivety. While Ilinca Călugăreanu builds her documentary advancing the naïve idea that the revolution was caused by the American action films of the `80s, which got into the country illegally, on video tapes, Hotel Dallas hovers between fiction and documentary, toning down the complexity of that period of time. The phenomenon that Ungur and Huang tackle is the popularity of the Dallas TV series in the communist Romania, which actually was the only American TV series allowed in the country.  It is true that Hotel Dallas also brings forward the hypothesis that the American series taught the Romanian people a kind of corrupt capitalism (the character J.R.type), but the affirmation is more made fun of, than confirmed.
Made of funny re-enactments (a group of pioneer pupils play Bobby`s death using pro-socialism dialogues), musical moments, interviews about the TV series and other unreal moments, the film uses all these elements allowing them to bring forward the contradiction of the statements, by putting them next to each other. Hotel Dallas is an interesting meditation upon that age, but sometimes it goes to useless directions – I didn`t understand what Brâncuși was doing here, for instance…
Otherwise, it was well received by the Berlin audience and many of the viewers stayed for the q&a with Sheng-Lee Huang, who confessed that he found it difficult to speak about the film without his wife, Livia Ungur, who couldn`t travel because she was pregnant. Huang explained that Livia was not the daughter of the magnate from Slobozia, though her father played this character. He also talked about the narrative structure of the film, about the film`s need to go beyond the limits of the classical paradigm and about the demarcations between reality and fiction.
     One Night in Tokoriki, Roxana Stroe (Black Friday) `s latest short film was included at theGeneration 14 plus section. The way I found Illegitimate more than welcome for questioning the abusive patriarchate, Roxana`s short film is among the very few queer Romanian films. The film starts with Geanina(Iulia Ciochină)`s 18th anniversary birthday party, where she invited the entire village. Things get complicated towards an unexpected love complication. One Night in Tokorikiis nominated for the Crystal Bear, but also for the Teddy Awards, the most famous prize for a queer film and the only one of that kind in an A category festival. The Teddy Awards celebrate its 30th edition at the Berlinale this year; Alexandra Carastoian, the director of the Bucharest Feminist and Queer International Film Festival  was a member of the jury.
     Quite few Romanian films were part of the Berlinale this year. Besides the films mentioned above, other significant Romanian artists were present: Cosmina Stratan, who plays a part in Shelley, screened in the Panorama section, Cristina Flutur who was invited at the Talent Campus for a q&a session and the film critic Dana Duma who is part of the FIPRESCI jury.