Claus Mueller

The tenth edition of the Romania film festival with new and well established older films was held by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Romanian Film Initiative from December 2-7. The best of current Romanian film making including feature films, documentaries and shorts were presented. It also brought back some classic landmark films like Poi’s THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU and Nemescu’s CALIFORNIA DREAMING. Panels focused on Romanian filmmakers and a special program Creative Freedom Through Cinema analyzed the link between art and politics in Eastern Europe with films from Georgia and Moldova.  The program included 25 productions.

 Two documentaries covered the migration of large members of ethnic groups to Israel and Germany. The superbly researched film ALIYAH DADA (Romania, 2014) by Oana Giurgiu provided an exhaustive perspective of Romanian Jews settling in Israel from the first immigrants at the end of the 19^th century to the Ceausescu’s dictatorship allowing Jews to leave against provision of cash or services from Israel and other sources. Altogether 400 million dollars were paid, though no trace of the money was found after the regime broke down. Interviews and archival documentation gave an excellent overview of the history of Jews during different phases of Romania, characterized   by frequent periods of oppression and discrimination.

 TRADING GERMANS by Razvan Georgescu (Romania/Germany, 2014) co-produced by HB0 Romania tells a similar story. Germans started settling as farmers in Romania in the 12^th century, growing into a large minority with its own culture and institutions by the 20^th century. But they faced grave obstacles when World War II ended and the communists took power. 175,000 were coerced into forced labor and German owned land was expropriated.  With no prospects for a better life in Romania a growing part of the German minority tried to leave but was not allowed until a hidden deal was worked out between the Romanian secret service and intermediaries working for the German government with approval by top German politicians. Arranged through the undercover operator Heinz Guenther Huesch the trade lasted from 1969 to 1989 and 246,000 ethnic Germans left Romania. Freedom was purchased by paying between 2-6,000 deutschmarks per person and in special cases up to 70,000 DM. The ransom was called an education tax (Ausbildungssteuer) but no lists identified the migrants who were sold. Only numbers were kept for these covert transactions.  During the cold war and trading period Romania enjoyed excellent relations with Germany.  Interviews with those who left revealed mixed reactions. Many did not experience a sense of homeland in their new country.  Some were appalled by the pervasive consumerism there. Others could not embrace the German identity because their emotional ties with Romania endured.

 TOTO AND HIS SISTERS, Alexander Nanau, Romania, 2014.   With the father nowhere to be seen and the mother spending time in prison for trafficking drugs, her children, 10 year old Toto and two teenage sisters, survive in a rundown Bucharest apartment which has been transformed into a shooting gallery for neighbors, youngsters and relatives. One sister, Ana is arrested for dealing drugs and spends time in Jail, the other Andrea takes care of Toto and they spend time in a shelter for homeless children. When their mother is released from prison, Andrea and her brother tell her that they prefer staying in the shelter over living with her. This documentary uses some footage shot by the children and explores in a most realistic manner the disturbing existence of children in drug infested families living in urban slums without an exit except for shelters. 

AFERIM, Radu Jude, Romania/Bulgaria/Czech Republic, 2015.   Aferim is a startling feature in black and white revealing a mostly unknown feature of Romania in the 19^thCentury, gypsy slavery. A police man and his son are tracking down in Southern Romania a slave who had been involved with his master’s wife and fled. Based on historical material and an actual case, the film uses the language of the documents and faithfully records in the visual representations detailed manners, lifestyles and settings of the period.  Aferim provides an excellent ethnographic introduction to the common enslavement of gypsies, the contempt for them and the brutality they endured. Delivering the slave to the master, the bounty hunter collects the ransom but suggests that his life be saved. He is supported by the wife who admits to have initiated the encounter. The master castrates the slave. Radu Jude received the best director prize at the Berlinale.

CORN ISLAND, George Ovashvili, Georgia/Germany/France, 2014.  Escaping poverty a farmer and his granddaughter grow corn on a small temporary island emerging each winter in a river between Georgia and Kazakhstan. The film records the construction of a simple hut where both live, the cultivation, the planting of the corn and the harvest. They are caught up in the conflict between soldiers from both countries, the stress caused by a wounded young soldier who seeks refuge with them, and eventually the rising river which threatens the harvest.  Corn Island is a startling minimalist film venture that relies on a simple austere story narrated in a precise yet subdued mode. Compared to most current films Corn Island is a refreshing experience since there are no superfluous visual or emotional embellishments or melodramatic elements. This cinematic approach is reinforced by the absence of dialogue; exchanges are restricted to sporadic statements. The film received the top prize in Karlovy Vary.

BUCHAREST NONSTOP, Dan Chisu. Romania, 2015.   Four interconnected stories over one night show the experience of several ordinary colorful people in urban Bucharest tied together by a small 24 hour store whose owner is witness to their tales. The film centers on their aspirations, fears and failures. There is the prostitute who is unable to escape with the help of her taxi driver friend from the clutches of her pimp, two young lovers who have a hard time connecting because a cellphone does not work, a couple of young hoodlums who fail in their accident fraud scheme because fake money is handed to them, and the sad story of a querulous elderly couple. The wife dies suddenly and the husband in his old army uniform desperately looks for a candle he promised to light if she passes. The stories are a touching portrait of extraordinary realities ordinary people face in their everyday life.

The 2015 edition of Making Waves presented again an impressive selection of Romanian films repeating the success of past festivals.

Claus Mueller

filmexchange@gmail.com