Two Romanian films have been selected in two competition sections of the Locarno International Film Festival, taking place in Switzerland between August 2 and August 12.

Țara moartă (Dead Country) by Radu Jude will screen in the Signs of Life section, dedicated to filmmakers exploring cinematic language in innovative ways.

Charleston, the feature film debut of Andrei Creţulescu, has been selected in the official competition of the festival.

Țara moartă had its world premiere at the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF). It is a documentary using over 500 photographs from the 8,500-photograph Costică Acsinte collection and soundtrack fragments from the communist or legionary propaganda films of the 1930s and 1940s.

This is not the first time Radu Jude is present at the Locarno festival. The director, who won in 2015 the Silver Bear for Aferim, received in 2016 the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival for Scarred Hearts. He is currently working on Is This What You Were Born For?.

Charleston (snapshot pictured) tells the story of a love triangle and its ensuing complications. The cast includes Șerban Pavlu, Radu Iacoban, Ana Ciontea, Victor Rebengiuc, Ana Ularu, Dorian Boguță, Gabriela Popescu, and Adrian Titieni. Andrei Crețulescu previously directed the short films Bad Penny and Kowalski. The latter received distinction at film festivals in Zagreb and Lille. His third feature film, Ramona, won the Canal+ la Semaine de la Critique in 2015 in Cannes, and the second prize at the Chicago Film Festival, in addition to local distinctions.

Romanian film review – The History of Love

editor@romania-insider.com