09-09-2010

Romania enters If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle for Oscars

By Iulia Blaga

    Florin Şerban's first feature has been forwarded for consideration as an Oscar Foreign Language Film nomination by a committee including the film critics Eugenia Vodă, Magda Mihăilescu, Cristina Corciovescu, Dana Duma, Eugen Athanasiu, critic and artistic director of the Transilvania film festival Mihai Chirilov and DOP, director and producer Dinu Tănase. The film was chosen in a 5-2 vote.

    After winning the Silver Bear and the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale, the film opened in Romania on 26 March. Celluloid Dreams (www.celluloid-dreams.com) sold it in the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Israel and Spain. The American premiere is set for January, distributed by Film Movement (www.filmmovement.com).

    If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier) is a Romanian-Swedish co-production of Strada Film (www.stradafilm.ro), Film i Väst (www.filmivast.se) and The Chimney Pot (www.thechimneypot.com). It was funded by the Romanian National Centre for Cinema (www.cncinema.abt.ro), the Swedish Film Institute (www.sfi.se) and Post Republic Berlin (www.post-republic.com), and has been pre-sold to Romanian public television (www.tvr.ro). The budget was €900,000.

    The project won the Magic Box Service Award at CineLink, at the 2008 Sarajevo film festival (www.sff.ba), and the CineLink Work in Progress Award at Sarajevo in August 2009. It also received the Hubert Bals Fund Award for Development at the Rotterdam film festival (www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com).

    Production information

    Strada Film
    41 Dr. Staicovici Street, Sector 5
    055556, Bucharest, Romania
    Phone/Fax: +40-21-411.80.99
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.stradafilm.ro

    Film i Väst AB
    Box 134
    461 23 Trollhättan
    Akerssjöv. 4
    Phone: +46 (0) 520- 49 09 00
    Fax: + 46 (0) 520- 49 09 01
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    http://www.filmivast.se/sv/Film-i-Vast/

    The Chimney Pot
    Sturegatan 58
    114 36 Stockholm
    Phone: +46 8 587 50 500
    Fax: +46 8 587 50 501
    Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.thechimneypot.com

    Published in Romania
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