Yesterday,
Lemonade / Luna de miere, Ioana Uricaru`s feature film directorial debut, produced by Mobra Films received the Golden Lynx for the Best Film in the competition of the FEST New Directors / New Films Festival de la Espinho ( Portugal). The film was selected in the competition of the main section. It was presented alongside other 10 successful films in the festivals circuit, such as:
Winter Brothers by Hlynur Palmason, winner of 25 international awards and
Killing Jesus by Laura Mora Ortega, recipient of many awards at the Cairo, Chicago and Palm Springs festivals. Having reached its 14th edition, the FEST New Directors/New Films Festival is an event dedicated to the film directors who are at the beginning of their film journey.
Lemonade had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, in the Panorama section. “The Hollywood Reporter described the film as one of the exceptional world premieres of Berlinale this year.” The American premiere took place this April at the Tribeca Film Festival. The American press called it “a film not to be missed.” The film was also selected at the Seattle Film Festival, then by the end of the year it will be present in other three North-American festivals. The Asian premiere took place in Jeonju (South Korea). In Europe, after the Berlinale, the film was selected and presented in different other festivals, such as Go East in Germany or OFF Camera in Poland. Next, Lemonade will presented at the Jerusalem International Film Festival, the most prestigious festival in Israel. Then it will be screened in Two Rivers (Poland). The film was bought in many territories and by the end of the year, it will be screened in the US, Canada, China, Greece, Israel, or Germany.
In Romania, the film is distributed by Voodoo Films and the Romanian premiere will take place in November this year.
Shot mostly in North America,
Lemonade is inspired by an article in the press and tells the story of a few tense days in the life of Maria, a nurse who is forced to confront her own image of the “American Dream” with the reality.
Ioana Uricaru graduated the Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest and she has a MFA in film and television production from the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California and from 2005 she is settled in the US, having a University teaching career. Before her feature-length debut with
Lemonade, she co-directed the omnibus
Tales from the Golden Age / Amintiri din Epoca de Aur and directed several short films.
