by Ron Holloway

Queried on the whys and wherefores for the current Romanian film revival, Decebal Mitulescu, President of the National Centre of Cinematography, responded with a caveat: “First of all, you have to keep in mind that, just a few years ago at the dawn of the third millennium, Romanian cinema was engulfed in a deep crisis. Not a single Romanian film was released in 2000, and several film projects were stopped midway through production.”

Then, in 2000, some important administrative adjustments were made to give an ever-evolving film law the teeth it needed to assert itself. Up to then, the National Film Office (NFO), founded in 1997, had granted the Association of Romanian Filmmakers (UCIN) a certain autonomy, which contributed in part to the production impasse. Two years later, in 2002, the NFO was given its old name back: the National Centre of Cinematography (CNC), with offices in the Ministry of Culture. About the same time, young filmmakers with new stylistic approaches to filmmaking began to bring home awards from international festivals. From that point on, Romanian cinema has been on a roll.

Following that disastrous “year zero” in 2000, 7 feature films were released in 2001, then 9 in 2002, and now 13 are planned for completion and release in 2003. Altogether, 25 feature-length films have been earmarked for financial support by the CNC over the past three years. This, in contrast to the annual output of 25-30 feature films in pre-revolution, socialist days. Furthermore, Romanian moviegoers welcomed the opening of the first multiplex in June of 2000, a Bucharest investment financed principally by an Hungarian exhibitor, InterCom in Budapest.

The 2001/2002 season saw two large-scale, full-service productions filmed on location in Romania: Costa-Gavras’s Amen (France), the screen adaptation of Rolf Hochhuth’s stage play “The Deputy,” and Franco Zeffirelli’s Callas Forever (Italy-France). Both were filmed at the Mediapro Studios in Bucharest, the revamped Buftea Studios of the socialist era. Just recently, Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain (USA) was wrapped in collaboration with Castel Film, the largest full-service private film studio in Romania, equipped with four sound-stages and capable of accommodating 10-15 features a year. Cold Mountain, an $80 million adaptation of Charles Frazier’s bestseller set during the closing days of the American Civil War, stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renee Zellweger. It will be released shortly under a Miramax banner.

So far as location shooting is concerned, however, the Amen - Callas Forever - Cold Mountain trio is just the tip of the iceberg. Two Christopher Lambert vehicles, Beowulf (1999) and Highlander: Endgame (2000), had previously made effective use of available sets and costumes, to say nothing of the production mileage gotten out of medieval fortresses as scenic backdrops. Castel Film, established in 1992, also collaborated on Joel Chapelle’s Vlad the Impaler (2000), a $20 million epic with 5,000 extras about the 15th-century Romanian ruler linked to the Dracula legend. If nothing else, Vlad the Impaler whetted the appetite of cineastes to search for the whereabouts of Dracula’s castle on the net, where no less than four different sites are said to fit the description in the Bram Stoker classic. More than likely, Stoker himself had once visited the murky castle in Sighisoara, a 13th-century museum town in Transylvania near the Hungarian border.
 
Ask Decebal Mitulescu why foreign companies prefer to shoot in Romania, rather than elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, and he will credit the “four perks” of Romanian coproduction: “We’ve got spectacular scenery, a fully functional Kodak lab, a broad range of qualified professionals, and lower prices compared to other countries.” That last named factor - rock-bottom prices - is surely the main reason. According to one informed source at a German studio, the prices in Romania are approximately one-third the costs of those in western Europe.
 
“Romania through CNC is also part of the European film structures,” adds Mitulescu. “This embraces Eurimages, Eureka Audiovisuel, and the SEE Cinema Network (Europa Cinemas), as well as adhering to the European Convention for Coproductions as of January 2002.” Upon applying for coproduction status, he underscores, the doors opened for large-scale movies to be produced and filmed in Romania.
 
“Location Romania,” however, has long been an hot tip, or open secret, among western European production companies on the lookout for advantageous deals and professional film crews. For instance, French producer Marin Karmitz (MK2), who was born in Bucharest, has maintained close links over the years with Romanian filmmakers, particularly with Lucian Pintilie, the country’s best known director, who himself had lived in exile for 20 years in Paris - “my French existentialist period,” he once remarked. Karmitz’s MK2, together with Pintilie’s Cinema Studio at the Cultural Ministry and Filmex Romania, has been involved in key Romanian productions over the past decade. Pintilie’s Last Stop Paradise, a MK2 French-Romanian coproduction, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 1998 Venice festival. And it is no coincidence that the beggar-woman on the streets of Paris in Michael Haneke’s Code Unknown (2000), bearing an MK2 production tag, was typical of gypsies found in northern Romanian cities.
 
Another émigré who has helped to further the cause of location shooting in Romania is Radu Mihaileanu, who studied cinema in Paris, then returned home to shoot Train de vie (1998), a French-Romanian Holocaust comedy about a Jewish village community avoiding deportation by faking their own deportation. Shot in French and featuring well known French actors in lead roles, Train of Life was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1998 Venice festival and was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Césars. Another talented filmmaker who studied abroad, Bogdan Dumitrescu left Romania for Germany in 1980, studied cinema in Italy, and won critical acclaim at international festivals with Thalassa, Thalassa (1994). A roadmovie for young audiences, Thalassa, Thalassa is about a Romanian boy who finds a white Jaguar hidden away in a barn - and drives off with his friends across a picturesque rural landscape to the Black Sea.
 
Whatever the reasons for the steady flow of international coproductions and the ever-increasing “services rendered” input, one wonders just how Romanian cinema itself managed to rebound so quickly onto the world film scene. More than likely, the answer can be found in the bylaws initiated in 1997 by the National Film Office under the aegis of Radu Gabrea, another émigré who had served as NFO head until 1999. Using western European film laws as a model, five competitive avenues were stipulated for state film funding: (1) development grants for screenplays, (2) project grants for productions and distribution, (3) funding grants for modernization of cinema venues, (4) exhibitor grants to guarantee at least 5% of the home box-office for Romanian productions, and (5) an allotment of funds to pay for Romanian inclusion in European Community film programs.
 
For all practical purposes, and despite attempts by special interest groups to water them down, these bylaws have remained in place up to the present. Save for one major amendment: the CNC will finance a film project approved by a jury up to 65% of the production budget - as a reimbursable credit up to seven years. The rest of the film’s budget has to be covered by possible sponsors and investors. The CNC also awards purse prizes to the best Romanian productions at a year-end gala ceremony. And, in 2002, the first edition of “Cinema” magazine was issued under its patronage.
 
Romanian critics, including skeptics, have expressed both pleasure and surprise that, for three years in a row, Romanian productions have been invited to participate in the Directors Fortnight at Cannes. Cristi Puiu’s Stuff and Dough participated in 2001, followed by Cristian Mungiu’s Occident in 2002, and now Lucian Pintilie’s Niki and Flo in this year’s Fortnight. Nevertheless, one should note that Pintilie, a highly respected film director with strong contacts to international festivals, has served as mentor for Puiu, Mungiu, and other young talent at the Bucharest Film School, and that Puiu has collaborated on the screenplay for Pintilie’s Niki and Flo.
 
Also, feature films by the middle and younger generation of Romanian filmmakers have been collecting a bundle of prizes at international film festivals of late. Nae Caranfil’s exceptional debut E pericoloso sporgersi (Don’t Lean Out) was invited to participate at the 1993 Directors Fortnight at Cannes and was awarded the Grand Prix at Bratislava. Recently, his Filantropica (Philanthropy), a bizarre fantasy tale about a city occupied by “stray dogs” and a local godfather who arranges wedding deals, received the Jury Prize at the 2002 GoEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Films in Wiesbaden. It was also awarded the top UCIN Prizes by the Union of Romanian Filmmakers: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress.
 
Indeed, it goes without saying 2002 was a very good festival year for Romanian cinema. Not only did Nae Caranfil’s Filantropica received the top prize at Wiesbaden, but Sinisa Dragin’s Everyday God Kisses on the Mouth, a black comedy about an ex-prisoner challenging his Maker to put an end to his mad run of serial killings, received the prestigious Tiger Award at last year’s Rotterdam Film Festival and was awarded the UCIN Prize for Best Director. And Cristi Mungiu’s Occident was awarded the Grand Prix in June of 2002 at the First Transylvanian (or Transilvanian) International Film Festival in Cluj (or Cluj-Napoca), an ancient city in the north that can boast of the most moviegoers population-wise in Romania.
 
Cluj festival director Tudor Giurgiu, whose short Popcorn Story had been invited to compete at the 2002 Berlinale, launched the first Transylvanian Film Festival on the proverbial shoestring budget, supported by CNC funding, two dozen sponsors (Nescafe, Kodak), key international partners (Wild Bunch, European Film Academy), and a brace of student volunteers that speak up to five languages to fit the city’s ethnic profile. Altogether, 45 films were programmed in two arthouse venues. The competition, approved by FIAPF, is opened to first and second features.
 
This year’s Second Transylvanian International Film Festival, scheduled 23-31 May 2003, overlaps slightly with the Cannes festival - but for a reason. “Cluj is a university city,” said Giurgiu, expressing regret for the overlap. “So we were flooded with requests from our large student audience to move the festival a week away from the year-end exams.” He also coated the splurge of requests for festival participation and accreditation with a dry remark: “Nearly everyone has put in a request to visit Dracula’s castle …”
 
The Cluj Transylvanian festival is one of four prominent film events in Romania. The equally recognized DaKINO International Short Film Festival in Bucharest, scheduled in November, shows short films, animation, and documentaries. The ALTER-NATIVE International Short Film Festival in Tg Mures, scheduled in December, showcases everything from experimental films and animation to advertising spots and video clips. The Astra International Documentary Film Festival in Sibiu, a biennial event scheduled for October 2004, focuses on anthropological films, documentaries, and films on music and photography.
 
As for the nine active Romanian production companies, they are all based in Bucharest, and most maintain a high profile on services-rendered facilities and opportunities. The big player is Castel Film, a private production company headed by Vlad Paunescu, who did the production services on the aforementioned Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain and Radu Mihaileanu’s Train of Life. Another leader in the field is Mediapro Pictures, the former Buftea Studios managed by Andrei Boncea, who was the Romanian coproducer on Costa-Gavras’s Amen and Franco Zeffirelli’s Callas Forever.
 
Next comes Filmex, headed by Constantin Popescu, who has produced all of Lucian Pintilie’s award-winning French-Romanian coproductions: The Oak (1992), An Unforgettable Summer (1994), Last Stop Paradise (1998), and now Niki and Flo, the entry in this year’s Directors Fortnight. Along the same lines is Domino Film, managed by Cristian Comeaga, who works with Nae Caranfil and has produced award-winning Filantropica.
 
Five other production companies have had extensive experience in TV films, shorts and features: Atlantis Film (Ion Marinescu), Artis Film (Adrian Popovici), Libra Film Production (Tudor Giurgiu), Ager Film (Nicolae Margineanu), and Silver Bullet Productions (Viorel Sergovici).

ROMANIAN FILM PRODUCTION COMPANIES

AGER FILM
Nicolae Margineanu
(email address not available)
Str. Matei Basarab 8, ap. 3, sect. 3, Bucuresti
tel/fax: +40-21 322.44.18
produces feature and short films

ARTIS FILM
Adrian Popovici
artis@airpal.ro <mailto:artis@airpal.ro>
Str. Romulus 59, sect. 3, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21 326.56.80
fax: 322.36.48, 322.36.65
produces feature films (Vlad the Impaler, Noro)

ATLANTIS FILM
Ion Marinescu
atlantis2000@xnet.ro <mailto:atlantis2000@xnet.ro>
Str. Vasile Gherghel 90, sect. 1, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21  223.41.70; 224.16.23
fax: +40-21 222.36.04
produces feature and TV films (Une morte pour une vie, Marriage interdit)

CASTEL FILM
Vlad Paunescu
vlad.paunescu@castelfilm.ro <mailto:vlad.paunescu@castelfilm.ro>
http://www.castelfilm.ro/ <http://www.castelfilm.ro/>
Str. Emanoil Porumbaru nr. 25A, sect. 1, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21 231.55.32
fax: +40-21 231.55.31
produces feature films, commercials; production services for Cold Mountain (USA, 2003, dir. Anthony Minghella), Train de Vie (France, 2001, dir. Radu Mihaileanu), Dracula Resurrection, Highlander

DOMINO FILM
Cristian Comeaga
dominofilm@xnet.ro <mailto:dominofilm@xnet.ro>
Str. Dr. Iacob Felix nr. 59 sect. 1, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21 223.46.69
fax: +40-21 312.96.09
produces feature films and commercials; Filantropica and Asfalt Tango - all directed by Nae Caranfil
 
FILMEX
Constantin Popescu
filmex@easynet.ro <mailto:filmex@easynet.ro>
Str. Ion Campineau 20A, Bl. 18A, ap. 16, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21 313.80.42
fax: +40-21 312.13.88
produces feature films (Last Stop: Paradise -Grand Jury Prize in Venice 2001, The Oak, Unforgettable Summer - all directed by Lucian Pintilie)

LIBRA FILM PRODUCTION
Tudor Giurgiu
tudor@librafilm.net <mailto:tudor@librafilm.net>
Str. Nicolae Beldiceanu nr. 12 sect. 1, Bucuresti
tel/fax: +40-21 211.91.84
fax: +40-21 212.09.94
produces feature films, commercials, pop videos; short Popcorn Story (2002, dir. Tudor Giurgiu, selected in Berlinale 2002)

MEDIAPRO PICTURES
Andrei Boncea
aboncea@mediasat.ro <mailto:aboncea@mediasat.ro>
http://www.mediapropictures.com/ <http://www.mediapropictures.com/>
Str. Studioului nr. 1, Buftea
tel: +40-21 205.18.40
fax: +40-21 250.18.71       
produces feature films, commercials; producer The Rage (Romania 2002, dir. Radu Muntean), co-producer Callas Forever (Italy-France, dir. Franco Zeffirelli, 2003), Amen (France, 2002, dir. Costa Gavras)

SILVER BULLET PRODUCTIONS
Viorel Sergovici
contact@silverbullet.ro <mailto:contact@silverbullet.ro>
http://www.silverbullet.ro/ <http://www.silverbullet.ro/>
Str. Dimitrie Pompei nr. 9-9A sect. 2, Bucuresti
tel: +40-21 243.05.95
fax: +40-21 243.05.97
produces feature films (Taboo, Straight into Darkness) and commercials