“Many films gathered more admissions in two screenings at our festival than in theatrical distribution throughout Romania afterwards, so our aim is to capitalise on the sympathy of the festival and organise regional editions of the festival and also a caravan so as the films could reach as many people as possible”, says Cristian Mungiu.
For the first time the festival will give two distribution awards of 2,500 EUR to the future Romanian distributor of an international film screened in Cannes and also of 5,000 EUR to a Romanian film that already has a domestic distributor. Eight Romanian films will be screened at the festival ahead of their theatrical release this autumn. Both of the awards will be voted by the audience.
The festival increased from six films screened nine years ago to 60 films and more than 100 screenings in 2018. Usually all the screenings are sold out.
The international guests of the festival are Asghar Farhadi, Carlos Reygadas, Marin Karmitz, Manoel Claro, Gaspar Noé, Guillaume Nicloux and Zsófia Szilágyi, among others.
For the first time the festival includes the premiere of a Romanian film in 3D (My Life Rehearsed in One Leg by Bogdan Mustață) and a partnership with the National Theatre Festival for a complete retrospective-homage to Lucian Pintilie (1933-2018) and also for a screening of Leto, in support of the Russian film and theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov.
Fourteen Romanian films in postproduction will be presented in the work-in-progress section to members of the selection committees from Cannes, Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam and Linz. One project from this section will also be awarded with a 5,000 EUR award.
For the first time the festival organises the Development Lab, welcoming representatives from famous European labs as a first step towards the initiation of a partner lab entitled Les Films pour Cannes à Bucarest.
The third edition of Managing Talents, a platform bringing together international casting agents and Romanian actors, will also take place within the festival.
The acclaimed DoP Manuel Claro will give a lab for Romanian cinematographers and, for the first time, teenagers tutored by directors Radu Muntean, Emanuel Pârvu and Paul Negoescu will learn how to make one-minute films in a partnership between Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest and Filminute.
Several debates will focus on topics such as the Romanian and European legislation, the new cash rebate scheme and the situation of Romanian cinemas.
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is organised by the Cinemascop Association and Voodoo Films, and it takes place in six locations in Bucarest from 19 to 28 October 2018, and also in Timișoara (19-22 October 2018), Arad (19-22 October 2018), Cluj (25-28 October 2018), Iași (26-28 October 2018), Brașov (1-4 November 2018), Oradea (3-4 November 2018) and Suceava (9-11 November 2018).
