Romanian director Cristi Puiu will preside the professional jury of the Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema, which will take place in the Italian cities of Lucca and Viareggio in early-April.

A total of 14 feature films, all in Italian premiere, were selected to participate in the festival’s 2017 International Feature Film Contest, competing for Best Film and Best European Film awards, and an Honorable Mention. Among the 14 films there is also Ana, mon amour, the latest movie of Romanian Calin Peter Netzer, which won a Silver Bear at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).

The other 13 films are Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau by Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie (Canada, 2016), Tamara Y la Catarina by Lucía Carreras (Spain, France, Uruguay, 2016), El Invierno by Emiliano Torres (Argentina, 2016), Afterlov by Stergios Paschos (Greece, 2016), Ikari by Sang-il Lee (Japan, 2016), Dao Khanong by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand, Netherlands, France, Qatar, 2017), Rifle by Davi Pretto (Brazil/Spain, 2017), Rekvijem za gospodju j by Bojan Vuletic (Serbia/Bulgaria/Macedonia, 2017), The levelling by Hope Dickson Leach (U.K., 2016), Butterfly kisses by Rafael Kapelinski (U.K, 2017), The Misandrists by Bruce LaBruce (Germany/Canada, 2017), Dayveon by Amman Abbasi (USA, 2017), and Ein Weg by Chris Miera (Germany, 2017).

Cristi Puiu is one of the best known Romanian directors. In 2004, when he was still in the beginning of his career, he landed the Golden Bear at Berlin for his short film Cigarettes and Coffee/Un cartuș de Kent și un pachet de cafea. However, he is probably best know for his film The Death of Mr Lazarescu, which won the Un Certain Regarde prize at the 2005 Cannes film festival.

Cristi Puiu’s latest feature film Sieranevada got six trophies at the Gopo Awards, the Romanian film industry yearly gala, which took place on March 21.

Romanian director presides the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury at Cannes festival

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com