The organizers of the Romanian film festival Making Waves, set to take place in New York this year, managed to raise the required USD 25,000 to keep the festival going, at its second edition under the new name. Last year, the Making Waves festival severed ties with Romania's Cultural Institute (ICR), which had overseen the event previously since 2006. In the wake of the political arguments over the Cultural Institute, the head of the ICR in New York Corina Suteu resigned in protest and set up the Romanian Film Initiative to run the Making Waves festival.

With over USD 25,000 raised and 226 backers via the platform kickstarter.com, the festival started raising money for this year's edition earlier in June, and is still open for donations. The targeted amount was a fraction of the festival's budget, and more is needed to expand the event. Set to take place in December in New York, Making Waves will this year also expand outside of New York, at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY.

Under the leadership of cultural entrepreneur Corina Suteu, the former general manager of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) branch in New York, with Mihai Chirilov as artistic director and Oana Radu as festival manager, the festival has been endorsed by the community of Romanian filmmakers including Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Mungiu, Radu Muntean, Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi Puiu, and Andrei Ujica, among others.

The event attempts to showcase the best and the most original cinema being made in Romania and has caught the attention of the New York times, which described Romanian film as “one of the most startling developments in world cinema.”

The redesigned and independent 2012 Making Waves Festival took place between November 29 and December 5 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Over 3,000 spectators attended the 26 screenings and special events, joined by 16 festival guests. Over 300 people supported Making Waves last year, making the festival the first large Romanian event to have been produced through crowdfunding.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Romanian Film Initiative on Facebook)