National Short Film Competition

The films included in this year’s National Short Film Competition prove that the time has finally come for a consistent Romanian experimental cinema, and its beginning may also be the most exciting, as it is completely miscellaneous, lacking shared aesthetics. Identity politics, video-diary, dance, archival, found footage and so many other thoughts and manners of making this/another kind of cinema were waiting to overcome their eternal condition of local precedent. The discussion is about to begin, in less than three hours – and it's going to be a good one. (Călin Boto)

Sections

FOR YOU CAN SEE NO OTHER

Thea Lazăr | Duration 8 min.

A furious and lyrical hybrid animation that scans through a history of art: man-made paintings of women looking at themselves in mirrors, as to blame them for “being vain”. Tired of being an instrument of the male gaze, the mirror steps outside dogma.

WHEN FLAMINGOS FALL FROM THE SKY

Dragoș Hanciu | Duration 16 min.

Blurring the line between memory and imagination, the film tells the story of a girl and her father, who have embarked on a wintery voyage. As the girl loses her sight, she reminisces about a strange encounter with a baby flamingo, while her father questions her experience.

RURAL RUMOR

Chrystèle Nicot, Antoine Alesandrini | Duration 29 min.

Two neo-peasants, digital avatars in the flesh, are put to work by a mini usb windmill in order to keep the village running. They imagine themselves alone and are surprised when their paths finally cross. Serendipity?

LOST FOOTAGE

Adrian Țofei | Duration 12 min.

How would a found footage film look like if the footage were never found? This conceptual art experiment questions the very nature of cinema while serving as an ironic tribute to the found footage horror and its specific pop culture.

FAULTY TECHNOLOGIES

Sabina Suru | Duration 5 min.

The choreography of simple, undulating gestures of a few pairs of hands goes through the blurry images of faulty technologies.

CUTTING HAND

Alexandra Tatar | Duration 32 min.

This video, both diaristic as well as essayistic, has to do with two tired women, mother and daughter, eating together after work. The manipulated images of monotonously picturesque landscapes interrupt the flow of the quotidian drama in the seasonal workers’ daily lives.

3 DIALOGUES ABOUT THE FUTURE

Alina Manolache | Duration 14 min.

Three pairs of robots engage in dialogue. How does artificial intelligence see the world? How does it see itself? There is a hidden tenderness in their algorithmic musings – what seems to preoccupy the robots most is the definition of being human.

MAYBE THERE IS NO DISTANCE

Letiția Popa | Duration 29 min.

A phone conversation about a past relationship, where the two lovers try to make sense of what was left unsaid between them offers a glimpse into what it feels like to not belong in your country of refuge and the emotional implications that are triggered from that.

DANCEN

Corina Andrian | Duration 16 min.

Dancen is the result of brief, intimate encounters between five dancers. What do we say when we don’t talk? The film choreographs those fleeting impulses that live in between moments of the day, emphasizing their affective essence.

BEING NINA

Adina Mocanu | Duration 18 min.

Nina Kulagina, the Russian housewife with telekinetic powers that became famous during the Cold War, tells us her ‘true’ life story in the South of Romania, set in a parallel universe.

ARCHIVAL STUDY (PORTRAITS)

Răzvan Anton | Duration 6 min.

Archival Study (Portraits) compiles digitised and edited 8mm footage shot mostly by the director’s father during the ‘70s and ‘80s. Overcoming the awkwardness of personal exposure through the methods of archival classification, Răzvan Anton proceeded with treating this material in a similar fashion to the public archive.

A.I. POETRIES OF FEMALE AND NON-FEMALE BEINGS IN GAS STATIONS AT NIGHT

Cristina Iliescu | Duration 18 min.

How should one closely navigate female and non-binary experience through virtual mediation? This experimental documentary casts a type of gaze that transcends the boundaries of concrete reality, looking for the human factor within generally accessible technologies.