The latest feature film written and directed by
Radu Jude,
“I Do not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians / Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari”, will have its world premiere during the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film was included in the official competition of the 53rd edition of the prestigious event that will take place in the Czech Republic from June 29 to July 7, 2018.
“The title of the film,
“I Do not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”, is a quote, that is why we kept the quotation marks. The line was said in the Council of Ministers in 1941, by professor Mihai Antonescu. Though it is not an invitation to
dialogue, his line involves the future directly, so we decided to give the professor a reply, a film one. A kind of arc over time”, Radu Jude said.
Radu Jude`s 6th feature film features the actors Ioana Iacob, Alexandru Dabija, Alex Bogdan, Ilinca Manolache,
Șerban Pavlu, Ion Rizea, Claudia Ieremia, Bogdan Cotleț.
“I Do not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”, tells the story of a reconstruction of a historical event for a street performance.
The director Radu Jude declares: “It`s a consistent film, it contains many things for all the tastes and that`s what makes it a true commercial film. Iași & Odessa 1941, Namibia 1904. A short novel by Isaac Babel. A comment written by Giorgio Agamben to a text of Hannah Arendt. Quotes and references for everyone: from Marshal Antonescu to Ludwig Wittgenstein, from dr
. Joseph Goebbels to dr. Nicolae Paulescu, from D.W. Griffith to N. Steinhardt, from Cioran to Fiara Paloșului-Boldur, from Raul Hilberg to prof.Gheorghe Alexianu. A scene from
Sergiu Nicolaescu`s
The Mirror / Oglinda.
An orthodox priest played with lots of sensitiveness by Rareș Hontzu. A haiku recited by Alexandru Dabija (Where are you, George Vraca?). Two photos from 1941. One fragment of an archive footage with the Romanian army (“soldiers of
the Cross and of justice”) entering Odessa. Ioana Iacob, an extraordinary actress, Alexandru Dabija, superb. Ilinca Manolache, Alex Bogdan, Claudia Ieremia, Ion Rizea, Bogdan Cotleț. Șerban Pavlu laughing like Beavis&Butthead. Wonderful non-professional actors, such as Gheorghe Mezei or Dumitru Răducu. The revue theatre lovers were not left aside either: Tudorel Filimon is charming and only Alex Bogdan can outperform him in terms of gags! The cinematography is signed by
Marius Panduru, who shot on 16mm film and on video. All inds of music, from
Sun Rays to
Wenn die Soldaten durch die Stadt marschieren. Nudity. Brass band. Shootings. Intellectual humor (with references to Saul Kripke and Rorty, for instance) or army humor, «what else can I say, music was playing, it was super cool», Gellu Naum writes. A true film for the entire family!”
The crew of the film
“I Do not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” was made of: cinematographer Marius Panduru (RSC), editor
Cătălin Cristuțiu, Jean Umanski, Camille Barrat, Marco Peron, Sophie Chiabaut (sound). The mixing was made by
Cristinel Șirli, the sound design by
Dana Bunescu and production design by Iuliana Vîlsan.
Ada Solomon is the producer and the co-producers are Jiří Konečný, Serge Lalou, Claire Dornoy, Rossitsa Valkanova, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade. The associate producer is Holger Stern.
“I Do not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” is a HiFilm production, in co-production with Endorfilm (Czech republic), Les Films D’Ici (France),
Klas Film (Bulgaria), Komplizen Film (Germany), ZDF/Arte, TVR, supported by the Romanian Film Centre, Czech Film Fund, L’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, Centre National du Cinéma et de L’Image Animée – Institut Français, Bulgarian National Film Center and Eurimages, with the financial support of Dr. Oetker, Covalact, Farmacia DONA, AQUA Carpatica, Domeniile Sâmburești, EXIMTUR–travel company, MediaCom.
The film will be distribuited in the Romanian cinemas by microFilm, starting with September 28, 2018. International sales – Beta Cinema.