Romanian director Cristi Puiu will receive the International Federation of Film Critics’ FIPRESCI 90 Platinum Award 2021 at the upcoming Sofia International Film Festival, scheduled to take place between March 11 and March 31.

Filmmaker Terry Gilliam will also receive the distinction.

Ken Loach, Béla Tarr, Goran Paskaljevic, Ildikó Enyedi, Bille August, and Agnieszka Holland are among the previous recipients of the award. 

“The work of famous writer and director Cristi Puiu is one of the reasons the world of cinema turned its eyes to Romania – he is one of the founders of the Romanian New Wave,” an announcement on the Sofia IFF’s website reads. 

Born in Bucharest in 1967, Puiu studied Fine Arts at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. After returning to Romania, he filmed his first feature - Stuff and Dough (2001), followed by Cigarettes and Coffee, awarded with the Golden Bear for a short film at the 2004 Berlinale. Presented as a project at Sofia Meetings in 2004, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) had its world premiere in Cannes and received the main prize in the Un Certain Regard competition, as well as six awards at the Transilvania International Film Festival, awards in Chicago, Copenhagen and many other distinctions. 

His films Stuff and Dough, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Aurora (2010), and Sieranevada (2016) were all screened at previous editions of the Sofia International Film Festival.  Puiu was president of the International Jury at the 21st SIFF in 2017. His latest film, Malmkrog, will be screened at this year’s event.

Puiu and Gilliam will hold special online masterclasses that will be moderated by leading film critics and streamed on the websites of FIPRESCI and the Sofia IFF as part of the event.

(Photo: Denis Makarenkno/ Dreamstime)

simona@romania-insider.com