A group of seven professionals in the film industry has
selected Cristian Mungiu's 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days film as Romania's
choice for submission for an Oscar. Besides the top honor at the Cannes
International Film Festival, Mungiu's film, a harrowing story about a student
who seeks an illegal abortion in communist Romania, has received numerous
other awards.
Since 1994 with two exceptions, Romania
has submitted every year a domestic film to be considered by the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and
Sciences in the foreign film competition. None has yet made it to the final
roster of the Academy's nominations. This year's selection for consideration
was announced Aug. 23.
In 2007 Romania
was represented by Catalin Mitulescu's How I Spent the End of the World,
and last year by Cristi Puiu's critically acclaimed The Death of Mr.
Lazarescu. Some other directors whose films Romania has sought to promote at
the Oscars were Nae Caranfil, Sergiu Nicolaescu and Lucian Pintilie.
Romania's
so-called new wave of directors have clearly made their mark in recent years,
with a cluster of prizes won in international film festivals. The international
media began to take note after the 2005 Cannes
prize at the "Un certain regard"
section for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.
This year Romania scored a double victory at Cannes because Cristian
Nemescu's California Dreamin' received the prize in the "Un certain regard" section.
30-08-2007
Romania hopes to trump its Cannes prize with an Oscar
By Anca Paduraru
Romanian officials
hope the film that won the prestigious Palme d'Or this year will be one of the
nominations for best foreign film at the Academy Awards in February 2008.
Published in
Romania