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The Toronto-Romanian Film Festival Kicks Off
Still from Peter Strickland’s Katalin Varga courtesy of the ToRo Arts Group.
Some of the most exciting parts of Toronto are the ethnically diverse neighbourhoods and areas that stitch the city together both geographically and culturally. With that comes the countless regional and cultural specific film festivals that happen here ever year—helping seal Toronto’s status as a film geek’s paradise—and this February marks the third edition of the Toronto-Romanian Film Festival (ToRo).
We caught up with programmer Andrei Tanasescu to get the scoop on this year’s festival (starts today!), the so-called Romanian New Wave, ToRo’s free events, and where the heck you can get authentic Romanian food in Toronto.
As ToRo celebrates its third year, can you tell us what motivated you to start the festival?
We started the Toronto Romanian Arts Group with the intent to offer Toronto a platform from which to showcase contemporary Romanian art and culture. The lack of such organizations within the local Romanian community presented us with the perfect opportunity to take on this project, and we decided that, given Romania’s cinematic success at the time of our inception in May 2007, the film medium offered the perfect gateway for our goals.
While we’ve branched out to other art forms in its events, Romania’s continuing success within international film festivals, as well as its rarely discussed cinematic past is the motivating factor behind our annual ToRo Film Festival.
Can you explain the meaning behind the festival’s tagline, “crisis ’89, then adaptation?”
“Crisis ’89 then adaptation” refers to the 1989 revolution in Romania which started on December 17 and ended with the execution of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu on Christmas Day. The adaptation in question carries a double meaning, with respect to the processes which Romania underwent to negotiate its new history and political, cultural future, and simultaneously to the reconstruction of its film industry, which underwent a decline in production during the 1990s, culminating in the “year-zero” of 2000, where no films were produced at all. Adaptation is the theme of this year’s festival, namely the appearance of the New Wave, and its exploration of individual/social post-traumatic adaptability.
More and more festivals in Toronto are offering free events and screenings as a part of their programming. What does ToRo have to offer this year?
With our third edition, we decided to branch out into providing our audience with a more concise analysis of Romanian cinema, rather than continue on a simple expository note. Through our free screening of the French documentary La Nouvelle Vague du Cinema Roumain, which places the New Wave under a selective microscope, we aim to invite both curious spectators and cinephiles alike to participate in the round-table discussion which will focus precisely on Romania’s global cinematic presence and its contextual political, economic, and cultural roots.
Still from Andrei Dascalescu’s Constantin and Elena courtesy of the ToRo Arts Group.
The juggernaut of this year’s festival is certainly the Cannes-debuted Tales From A Golden Age, a feature composed of five short films. What makes it a must-see for audiences?
For starters, it’s Cristian Mungiu’s follow-up to his Cannes Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Written, produced, edited, and partially directed by him, it is a monumental undertaking that marks the first instance of an omnibus production in Romanian cinema. The communist years of Romania’s ‘80s decade, ironically described by Romanians as their “Golden Age,” carry on widespread tales or myths of surreal, yet realistic anecdotes of the absurd situation citizens find themselves in. The five shorts are the antithesis of the New Wave’s miserabilist style, and will offer audiences a comedic look into the communist past and its eccentricities.
Critical and art house Romanian successes like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and recently Police, Adjective have helped usher in what is being called the “Romanian New Wave.” What characterizes this movement and why do you think it’s emerging right now?
Rather than being a proper cinematic movement, as it is generally known, the resurrection of Romania’s cinema is primarily due to a new formal and narrative approach, which is in step with current international art/film festival cinemas. Far from being reductive and dismissive, this consideration of the “new wave” speaks toward a more complex situation within the country’s film industry. There has never been a manifesto of the “new wave,” they do not belong to a certain “generation,” and most of the directors work independently of each other.
Its characteristic linear and narrow temporal narratives, documentary-style/observational film aesthetics have drawn comparisons to the French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, and, more appropriately, the Czech New Wave. However, in spite of all of these similarities and contradictions, it may be said that the emergence of Romanian cinema upon the international cinematic market is due to a new viewpoint, a modernist introspection of the lives of individuals as they maneuver through the country’s collective subconscious, ambivalent to its current problematic political and historical past.
For anyone looking for another taste of authentic Romanian culture in Toronto are there any events, restaurants, or venues you would recommend?
The Royal Ontario Museum‘s upcoming presentation of Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi, who will be presenting his brand of social commentary through site-specific line drawings during his residence at the museum from February 13 to 22. Additionally, the Cinematheque will screen Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (on February 18), as well as Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (on February 14) as part of their “Best of the Decade” programme. For authentic, community-based culinary treats, pay a visit to Napoca Restaurant, or any local Eastern European delis, such as ABC Euro Delicatessen.
The Toronto-Romanian Film Festival runs from February 4 to February 7.
Matt Thomas is a filmmaker, arts and culture writer, and currently an associate editor at Fab Magazine.