romaniancinemaNOW: The 2nd Annual Toronto-Romanian Film Festival February 13, 2009

The unveiling of contemporary Romanian cinema

Inspired by the primacy of things present and organized by the ToRo Arts Group with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute, romaniancinemaNOW: The 2nd Annual Toronto-Romanian Film Festival will be running from February 13th to the 15th (2009)
and will emphasize the extent to which “things peripheral,” often manifesting themselves on the borders of the mainstream and the commercial, continue to inspire a less-ironic, less-tragic and less-miserable understanding of the idiosyncrasies of the everyday.

An Official Selection at the Cannes International Film Festival and winner of Best Screenplay at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2008, Boogie, a Radu Muntean introspective on the sober reality of change - and in this case, appropriately qualified - will headline the opening night.

A program of award-winning short films will begin each day of the weekend. Megatron (2008, Marian Crisan) Romania’s Palme D’Or winner at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bogdan Mustata’s A Good Day For A Swim (Golden Bear winner at the Berlin Int’l Film Festival, 2008) and Radu Jude’s new short film Alexandra (Short Film Prize winner at 2008 Cottbus Film Festival) will be screened amongst others.

Day two, or Doc.Day, dedicated to both short and feature documentary films co-presented by Hot Docs, will include Adina Pintilie’s 2007 DOK Leipzig Golden Dove winner, Don’t Get Me Wrong, along with the pairing of Electro and Viva Constanta!, two
short documentaries that converge on another Romanian pastime, if not obsession: music. Doc.Day will culminate with Alexandru Solomon’s Cold Waves, a thorough reassessment of the constituents responsible for Radio Free Europe victory over the
Ceausescu-led secret war, which implicated both the Securitate as well as the infamous Carlos the Jackal, against the efforts of outside observants opposed to his insidious regime; director Alexandru Solomon will be in attendance.

On day three, independent and feature-film debuts will refocus attention on the up-and-coming, starting with Elevator, a low-budget, high-tension winner of the Fresh Generation Prize at this year’s Karolvy Vary Film Festival. An audience favourite, director Igor Cobileanski, will also be present to offer insight into his debut feature film, Také.

Closing the festival will be Adrian Sitaru’s feature film debut, Hooked, an inventive psychological thriller which screened in September at Toronto International Film Festival and has won awards for Best Actress and Special Jury Prize in 2008 at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

A video installation that will allow festival goers to view a collection of cartoons and animations from Romania's most prolific artists and filmmakers will be on display at both screening venues.
For additional information, scheduling considerations and a full program listing, please visit the ToRo Arts Group website at www.toroartsgroup.com.

The film festival screenings will be held at the Bloor Cinema (bloorcinema.com), as well as at the Innis College Town Hall, (utoronto.ca/townhall), located at 506 Bloor Street West and 2 Sussex Avenue, respectively.

TICKETS.
Advanced tickets ($8 student, $12 adult), as well as day and festival passes will be available until February 1st, 2009, at the UofT Tix box office, located at 7 Hart House Circle, by visiting the UofT Tix website, at www.uofttix.ca, or by calling the box office directly at 416-978-8849.

After February 1st, tickets will be $10 for students and $15 for adults, day and festival passes also reflecting this change in price.

Questions and general inquiries that are relevant to this film festival should be submitted to [email protected].

The ToRo Team.

Official Website: http://www.toroartsgroup.com