Radu Jude’s latest short enters official competition of Portugal's most important short film festival
Romanian director Radu Jude’s latest short The Potemkinists has been selected for the official competition at the Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, Portugal's most important short film festival.
The Potemkinists had its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival, in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs program.
The film was written and directed by Radu Jude and produced by Ada Solomon and Diana Caravia.
It is based on the true story of an act of defiance made in 1905 by the sailors of the cruiser Potemkin against Tzarist Russia – the same uprising that inspired Sergei Eisenstein’s cinematic gem, Battleship Potemkin (1925), and their subsequent flee to Constanta, Romania where they were granted political asylum.
In Jude’s short, it is 2021, and a sculptor (played by Alexandru Dabija) makes a work of art inspired by this event. Cristina Drăghici plays the other lead role.
The film is a comedy that covers the themes of art, history, memory, and cinema, and has been described by film critic Andrei Gorzo as "a Caragiale sketch crossed with a video essay by Mark Rappaport".
This is Jude's fourth selection in the "Curtas Vila do Conde" competition after Alexandra (2007), It Can Pass Through the Wall (2014), and The Marshal’s Two Executions (2018).
The Potemkinists can currently be viewed in Romanian cinemas as part of the Alamanah Cinema. Six short films by Radu Jude short film compilation.
At 45, director and screenwriter Radu Jude has had a prolific career in film, being granted multiple awards on the international film festival scene.
In 2009, he won the CICAE award at the Berlinale for his debut feature film The Happiest Girl in the World. His 2015 film Aferim! won him the Silver Bear for Best Director. It was followed by Scarred Hearts (2016), which won two awards at Locarno International Film Festival. His feature film I don't care if we go down in history as barbarians (2018), was the first Romanian film to win the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. His latest feature film, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2021.
(Photo source: The Potemkinists film still/MicroFILM)
