Bucharest International Film Festival - BIFF - B-EST

This year, Charta Cultural Foundation and the National Center for Roma Culture, with the support of S.C. Niro Investment S.A., propose a challenging new section within B-EST International Film Festival, entitled ROMANO CINEMA AND CULTURE
– featuring films about the Roma culture and cinematography, scheduled
to be screened on March 27th and March 28th at Studio Cinema.

The
intercultural dialogue is one of the necessary conditions of a modern
society and one cannot deny the fact that the Roma community’s cultural
products are part of the cultural legacy worldwide. B-EST International
Film Festival premieres this new section with a debate about ROMA CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA. ROMA PEOPLE IMAGE IN FILM, which will take place on March 27th, at 14.00h, at Marble Hall in Studio Cinema. 

The section will feature four outstanding films representatives to the genre:

BAHRTALO!,
a 2008 Hungarian Film, is a newrealist comedy directed by Robert
Lakatos, awarded with Europe Cinema Prize at the East of the West
section within Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2008. The film
follows two Transilvanian friends, a Gypsy and a Hungarian who, whether
life throws good or bad surprises at them, know something that most of
us don’t: how to enjoy life.

HIDDEN SORROWS: the Persecution of Romanian Gypsies during WW II
is an unsettling one-hour documentary that analyses the history of
deported Romanian Gypsies into the concentration camps in Transnistria
by the Nazis and their allies. The survivors speak about the terrible
experiences that they have been through and the inhuman conditions in
which they had to live. The documentary tracks them to present time
when they are applying for the assistance funds for the victims of the
Holocaust offered by the German government and Swiss banks.

THE LAND IS WAITING,
on the other side, is a deeper look into the lives of Romani Gypsies
today – Mihai, aged 21, comes from a large family of ten children,
living in a remote village in North-East Romania. Although they can
hardly live off their little piece of land, his parents wanted all
their children to be educated, and so five of them got all the way to
University. Lacking money, Mihai abandoned his studies after less than
a year. Looking for support, he ended up in a monastery for nine
months. After returning home, he worked hard to help his brothers and
sisters finish school. His choice now is whether to carry on with this
rural life or go back to being a student in Iasi.
The documentary
directed by Laurentiu Calciu was awarded with the Nanook-Jean Rouch
prize at Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, 2005.

Our final entry for the first edition of the section ROMANO CINEMA AND CULTURE is WHEN THE ROAD BENDS - TALES OF A GYPSY CARAVAN,
a documentary directed by Jasmine Dellal and narrated by Johnny Depp.
Filmed by the legendary cinematographer Albert Maysles, this musical
dinamic documentary follows the story of five Gypsy bands from four
different countries that get together for the Gypsy Caravan, a six
weeks tour through North America.

Their musical style ranges
from flamenco to Indian folk and , with humor and enthusiasm, the
artists create an explosion of singing and dancing that showcases the
best in the Gypsy culture and the diversity of the Roma people. As the
film presents the incredible performances and the action backstage
during the tour, we discover the real lives of these artists. Back home
– in Romania, Macedonia, India and Spain – we meet their families and
we realize just how much of a part is music in their lives. Their
stories unfold between performances – allowing us to understand ad
celebrate the Romani culture and the prejudice inherited from their
ancesters.

BucharEST International Film Festival is supported
by the Ministery of Culture, Cults and National Patrimony, through the
National Cinematography Center and Bucharest Municipality, through the
ArCub Center for Cultural Projects.