This will be the world premiere of the film, telling the strange-but-true story of the covert Cold War alliance between the American CIA and the Romanian Securitate (secret police) to finance the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.
Director Landry and composer Călin Țopa will be in attendance for the BHFF screening.
“As an American living in Romania for many years, the misinterpretation of language is something that continues to fascinate me. That and my love for the history of my adopted home made this a natural subject for my first film,” noted the director. “I had heard stories of the CIA secretly supporting Saddam Hussein through Romania, and when I conducted research I found that not only was it true, but far more bizarre than I had ever imagined.”
The script, co-written by Landry and Doru Lupeanu (Superman, Spiderman or Batman) from a story by Landry, dramatizes the meeting between CIA and Securitate operatives to provide military supplies and uniforms to the army of Iraq in support of their war against Iran in the early 1980’s.
The cast includes Ștefan Iancu, Alexandru Georgescu, Guy Oliver-Watts, Robert Marshall and Irina Margareta Nistor.
Christopher Landry works as an independent producer and assistant director, most recently on the limited series The Gray House for Paramount (Romania), the Tarot for Sony (Serbia), which also premieres in May. He is also the author of Marele Ecran in Epoca de Aur, a study of film posters and filmmaking in Romania during the Ceaușescu era.
The film is a majority Romanian production, with Castel Film Studios’ Vlad Păunescu and Cristi Bostănescu as executive producers. Cinelabs Romania supervised post production.
Production Information:
Director: Christopher Landry
Writers: Christopher Landry, Doru Lupeanu
Producer: Christopher Landry
Executive producers: Vlad Păunescu, Cristi Bostănescu
DoP: Liviu Pojoni Jr, Viorel Sergovici Jr
Production designer: Ana Ioneci
Editor: Dana Bunescu
Music: Călin Țopa
Main cast: Ștefan Iancu, Alexandru Georgescu, Guy Oliver-Watts, Robert Marshall, Irina Margareta Nistor
Production: Castel Film Studios (RO), Wild Rumpus (RO)
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/917450432
