Opening the fall season is Tudor Giurgiu's second film as a director, Of Snails and Men/Despre oameni şi melci, premiering on 14 September 2012. Inspired by true events, the comedy set in Romania in early 90's is produced by Giurgiu through Libra Film (www.librafilm.net) and has received a large marketing campaign of 100,000 EUR.
Radu Gabrea's docu-drama Three Days Till Christmas (The Last Days of Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu)/Trei zile până la Crăciun (Ultimele zile din viaţa Elenei şi a lui Nicolae Ceauşescu) will open on 21 September. The film is a Romanian-Hungarian coproduction between Tudor Şerban and Orion Film and Laszlo Kantor and Uj Budapest Film Studio (www.ujbudapestfilmstudio.hu).
After opening in Italy in April, Diaz - Don't Clean Up this Blood by Daniele Vicari will hit Romanian cinemas in the first or the second week of October. The film received the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlinale 2012 (www.berlinale.de), and is produced by Domenico Procacci and Fandango Italy (www.fandango.it), in coproduction with Bobby Păunescu and Mandragora Movies Romania (www.mandragoramovies.ro) and Jean Labadie and Le Pacte France (www.le-pacte.com).
The comedy Sweet Little Lies/Minte-mă frumos, directed by Iura Luncaşu and produced by Ducu Ion and MediaPro Pictures (www.mediapropictures.com) will open on 19 October. MediaPro Pictures became heavily involved in the production local comedies beginning in 2011, filling a gap in domestic film.
Dan Chişu's Horses Are Green on the Walls/Şi caii sunt verzi pe pereţi will open on 2 November. This contemporary dramedy is produced by Giuliano Doman and Family Film (www.familyfilm.ro) together with Chişu and DaKINO Production, in coproduction with Panalight Romania (www.panalight.ro).
The debut feature A Month in Thailand/ O lună în Thailanda aka 365 de Revelioane by Paul Negoescu will open mid-November, Ada Solomon who is producing through HiFilm Productions (www.hifilm.ro) told FNE. The Romanian company Abis (www.abisstudio.ro) is coproducing. A Month in Thailand, which premiered in the International Critics Week in Venice, and follows a young man as he tries to reconnect with a former love story on New Year's Eve.
The documentary Turn Off the Lights by Serbian director Ivana Mladenovic, which premiered in Tribeca, will open in November, producer Daniel Mitulescu from the Strada Film (www.stradafilm.ro) told FNE. Digital Cube (www.digitalcube.ro) is coproducing. The film investigates the life of four 19-year-old boys after their release from prison.
Beyond the Hills/După dealuri, the awaited new film of Cristian Mungiu, is the only Romanian film without a firm release date. Representatives of Mobra Films told FNE that a decision has not been made yet since the marketing campaign and the opening are somewhat different from usual.
Beyond the Hills is produced by Mungiu through Mobra Films (www.mobrafilms.ro), in coproduction with Why Not Production (www.whynotproductions.fr), Wild Bunch (www.wildbunch.biz), Les Films du Fleuve (www.lesfilmsdufleuve.be), France 3 Cinéma (www.france3.fr) and Mandragora Movies Romania. It was awarded best script and best actress (Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur) in Cannes and is the most awaited in Romania since it has had no screenings since Cannes, not even at Transylvania IFF (www.tiff.ro). However Mungiu's distribution company Voodoo Films announced on September 5 that the very first domestic screening of Beyond the Hills will be on October 25 as closing film for Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest, a film festival Mungiu is organizing since 2010.
