This year`s edition of the American Independent Film Festival brings tribute to John Cassavetes – the most iconic independent director of the American cinema – by organizing a retrospective with five of his films. His poetics substantially influenced many generations of filmmakers, including
Cristi Puiu, a prominent director of the Romanian New Wave. Puiu repeatedly named Cassavetes as one of the directors who influenced his own film vision.
John Cassavetes
had a major impact also on Peter Falk`s career; he is well-known to the Romanian audience from the popular TV series from the `70s, Colombo. John Cassavetes, who was an actor, director and writer, was married to Gena Ro
wlands, the muse of his films; his children seem to have inherited his passion, both Nick and Zoe Cassavetes have careers in more fields of the film industry.
From April 27 to May 3, the Bucharest film lovers will have the opportunity to watch
Shadows (1959),
Faces(1968),
A Woman Under the Influence (1974),
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) și
Gloria(1980). The films will e introduced by filmmakers or film critics, among which
Cristian Tudor Popescu,
Ionuț Mareș, Christian Ferenc-Flatz and Andrei Tănăsescu. The films in the retrospective will be screened at the Peasant Museum Cinema and the access is free, upon seats availability. Ticket reservations can be made on
Eventbook.ro.
John Cassavetes is considered one of the pioneers of the American film, a contemporary of the French New Wave. Cassavetes redefined the American cinema by means of an honest approach which defied compromise, choosing to defy compromise and to explore the truths behind the human relationships with an authentic and poignant curiosity. He had three Oscar nominations, as a writer, actor and director and he received the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1984 for Love
Stream and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for
Gloria, in 1980.
Although he has been involved in many Hollywood productions as an actor, John Cassavetes has always tried to explore the possibilities of acting and directing in the American cinema though his own films. He kept his creative control over his films by means of self-financing, bringing his actor friends in his film experiments and using locations such as his own house or that of his wife, Gena Rowlands. Counting on improvised acting and on a fluid cinematic style, his films are built around some psychologically complex characters, played in a simple, natural manner by his close friends, as Gena Rowlands or Peter Falk
Detalii:
www.filmedefestival.ro
Translation: Iulia Necoara