SETimes.comNew wave film wins big at TIFF
18/06/2009
"Police, Adjective" and "North" share the top prize at Romania's largest film festival.
By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest – 18/06/09
"Police, Adjective", directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, shared The Transylvania Trophy at the 8th annual Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF), alongside the Norwegian film "North", directed by Rune Denstad Langlo.
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Jury also awarded "Police, Adjective" at the "Un Certain Regard" section of this year's Cannes Film Festival.
The event took place from May 29th to June 7th in Cluj-Napoca, before moving to its second location in Sibiu.
The movie, which made its Romanian premiere at TIFF, is the story of a police officer who ends up doubting his profession.
"Police, Adjective" has been widely praised by critics.
"Further proof of the strength of the Romanian New Wave, this deadpan meditation on authority and moral conscience is … one of the finest films at this year's festival," wrote Manohla Dargis for The New York Times.
"A short, unsettling coda wraps up the entire film with the protagonist's practical application of the reductio ad absurdum principle, effectively cementing Porumboiu's status as one of the strongest contemporary Romanian or indeed European directors working today," wrote Boyd van Hoeij in Cineuropa.
"It's a movie that can be absorbed, but it's a movie which requires patience … a movie about words and sense", said Porumboiu, as quoted by Realitatea TV.
The movie was shot in the director's hometown of Vaslui.
The TIFF Best Directing Award went to Barmak Akram for "Kabuli Kid".
"North" also took the Best Cinematography Award. The Dutch film "Can Go Through Skin" won the FIPRESCI Prize.
Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to Romanian director Dani Pita, Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, Israeli director and producer Menahem Golan, and actor Florin Piersic.
Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include Julie Delpy, Michael Radford, Annie Girardot, Udo Kier, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero.