Arts & Entertainment
Thirty years of cinema revolution onscreen at SIFF and NWFF
"The Romanians" series is a touring retrospective of Romanian cinema screening in Seattle at both SIFF and Northwest Film Forum.
The American Romanian Cultural Society is proud to announce the full schedule of The Romanians: 30 Years of Cinema Revolution! Presented in partnership with Making Waves in NY, Northwest Film Forum, and SIFF.
Spanning the 30 years since the 1989 Romanian Revolution, this comprehensive showcase is curated by Making Waves and presents titles from the recent history of Romanian cinema, among which are a selection of films that have never been screened before in Seattle. In the 1990s, directors who found themselves freed from the tyranny of censorship rushed out in the open to tell stories from the recent past. In the following two decades, younger directors went back in time on their own terms and came up with a fresh perspective on the communist era. Even when they chronicled the present in sharp slices of life, the dark shadows of the past still permeated their contemporary stories, like familiar ghosts.
In 2005, a three hour-long black comedy about a dying man, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (dir. Cristi Puiu), was part of the birth of an artistic revolution that ignited an ever-growing international interest in an outstanding generation of filmmakers. It also triggered the rediscovery of past highlights which offered a genealogy for what critics came to call the Romanian New Wave.
Newer films dig into the more distant though equally relevant past, and there is also escapism, mostly in genre formats. But despite its apparent diversity, this vast retrospective works best as a history lesson served in the most entertaining form: movies.
The Seattle-based non-profit American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) has the mission to create social change through film, art and education. With a focus on the Romanian heritage, ARCS promotes projects that build bridges between Eastern European cultures on the West Coast.
Since 2014, ARCS has been organizing the Romanian Film Festival in Seattle, a successful community building project in collaboration with Seattle International Film Festival. Hosted at SIFF Cinema Uptown, the event has been gathering around 2500 viewers of diverse cultural background each year.