Tales from the Golden Age

Tales From The Golden Age / Amintiri din epoca de aur (2009)
Director: Constantin Popescu Jr, Razvan Marculescu, Ioana Uricaru, Hanno Hofer, Cristian Mungiu
Screenwriter: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Ion Sapdaru, Teodor Corban, Calin Chirila, Radu Iacoban, Diana Cavallioti
Running time: 138 min.

Five short stories dealing with an unconventional personal history of the late Communist period in Romania.

The Legend of the Official Visit
On the occasion of Ceausescu’s working visits, countryside mayors ended up hanging fruit in trees to make sure their villages would be noticed, obeying even the strangest orders from the ferocious Party activists.

The Legend of the Party Photographer
Communist Party secret regulations stated that in official pictures President Ceausescu couldn’t take his hat off in front of the representatives of the rotten capitalistic world, President d’Estaing included.

The Legend of the Chicken Driver
A professional driver decides to open his sealed truck for the first time in his career and discovers the connection between eggs, Easter and marital love.

The Legend of the Greedy Policeman
A policeman gets a live pig as gift before Christmas and decides that gas poisoning would be the best way to kill the animal silently amongst his hungry neighbors.

The Legend of the Air Sellers
In the 80s Romania, Bughi and Crina play Bonnie and Clyde, robbing people of bottled air.

2009 – Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival

Q&A session with director Hanno Hoffer to follow screening

3rd Annual Toronto-Romanian Film Festival (February 4th to the 7th, 2010)

Crises are ubiquitous, crises are unequivocally and invariably chaotic. They are precarious, an unexpected departure from the standards of ‘things predetermined;’ they inflect the unexpected, mobilize change and indict the reluctant. Crises happen. And they compel adaptation.

Curated by the ToRo Arts Group (with the support of, and in collaboration with, the Romanian Cultural Institute) and scheduled to transpire between Feb.4-7 the 3rd Annual Toronto-Romanian Film Festival will explore the intricacies, modes and relational realities of adaptation, as they manifest themselves socially, politically and economically.

Screenings will be held at:

- Royal Ontario Museum Theatre (Thursday, Feb.4 only) (***FREE EVENT***)
*click for map

- Innis Town Hall
*click for map

- Bloor Cinema
*click for map

SCHEDULE

* click on individual screenings for more information

DAY 1 - Thursday, Feb. 4 (***FREE EVENT***) - Royal Ontario Museum Theatre

7:00 PM – The New Wave of Romanian Cinema / La Nouvelle Vague Roumaine (2008) screening, followed by Adapt-a-script, a round-table discussion moderated by Calin-Andrei Mihailescu (professor of Comparative Literature at Western University) and conducted by the festival’s guests of honour Tudor Giurgiu, Jennie Punter and Adam Nayman, concerning questions of adaptation in contemporary Romanian cinema.

NOTE: Guests are asked to enter using the President’s Choice Group Entrance, located at the south end of the ROM.

DAY 2 - Friday, Feb. 5

6:30 PM – Tales From the Golden Age - Bloor Cinema [NOTE TIME CHANGE!]

10:30 PM – Opening Party – Peridot Resto.Lounge

DAY 3 - Saturday,  Feb. 6

1:00 PM – Big Ocean – Innis Town Hall

3:00 PM – Videograms of a Revolution – Innis Town Hall

6:00 PM – Australia; Weddings, Musics and Videotapes – Innis Town Hall (**Free Screening**) [NOTE CHANGE!]

9:30 PM – Constantin and Elena (co-presented by Hot Docs) - Bloor Cinema

DAY 4 – Sunday, Feb. 7

2:00 PM – Shorts Program – Innis Town Hall

4:00 PM – The Paper Will Be Blue – Innis Town Hall

6:30 PM – Apocalypse on Wheels (co-presented by Hot Docs) - Innis Town Hall

9:00 PM – Katalin Varga - Bloor Cinema

TICKETS
$10 – Student
$15 – Adult

Day Passes: Student - $25, Adult – $35 (Saturday); Student – $30, Adult $45 (Sunday)
Festival Passes: Student – $60, Adult – $100

To purchase, please contact the UofT Tix box office located at 7 Hart House Circle, by visiting the UofT Tix website at

http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=598

… or by calling the box office directly at 416-978-8849.

* Please be advised that ToRo Arts Group reserves the right to modify and/or alter the evening’s program so as to meet all necessary legal and copyright requirements. All changes made will arrive with due notification.

Electro (2007)

Director: Matei-Alexandru Mocanu
Screenwriter: Matei-Alexandru Mocanu
Running time: 52 min.

screening co-presented by

“A snapshot of a subculture in development as Bucharest DJs, promoters and clubbers talk about the Romanian capital’s growing electronica scene.”
A fresh look at electronica from the perspective of a country shaking off pop-culture isolation, Matei-Alexandru Mocanu’s stylish documentary is a snapshot of a subculture in development. Bucharest DJs, promoters and clubbers with tastes ranging from thumping techno to experimental sound sculpture address the different subsets of the scene, the influence of fashion and drugs, relations with the international electronic underground, and the question of whether they are building a movement or just making music.

Awards / Festivals
- Official Selection (Transylvania Int’l Film Festival) 2007
- Official Selection (ASTRA Film Sibiu – Int`l Festival of Documentary Film and Visual Anthropology) 2007
- Official Selection (Ethnocineca08  - Austria) 2008
- Official Selection ( MusiXine / Oulu Music Video Festival – Finland) 2008
- Official Selection (Music on Film – Film on Music – Czech Republic) 2008
- Official Selection (DaKino Int`l Film Festival) 2007

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Viva Constanta ! (2007)

Director: Ambrus Emese
Screenwriter: Ambrus Emese
Running time: 43 min.

screening co-presented by

Tudor Lakatos is a 40-year-old Gipsy teacher in the ghetto of Somcuta, in the northern region of Romania, who wants to become famous as an Elvis Presley imitator. He translates most of the King’s songs into the Gipsy language. One day, under the name of Elvis Rromano (Gipsy Elvis), he sets off to the port city of Constanta to try his luck with popularizing this kind of music, rock and rom (Gipsy rock).

Awards / Festivals
- Special Prize for Best Documentary on Intercultural Dialogue (DocumFest Film Festival, Timisoara) 2008
- Official Selection (ASTRA Film Sibiu – Int`l Festival of Documentary Film and Visual Anthropology) 2007
- Official Selection (Göttingen International Ethnographic Film Festival) 2008
- Official Selection (CineFest Int’l Festival of Young Filmmakers) 2008
- Official Selection (Transylvania Int’l Film Festival) 2008
- Official Selection (DaKINO Int’l Film Festival) 2007