27-03-2014

FNE at BIFF 2014: Tenth Edition of Bucharest Film Fest Kicks Off

By
    In Bloom, Dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili In Bloom, Dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili

    BUCHAREST: The 10th edition of the Bucharest International Festival (B-IFF) kicked off in Bucharest last night (26 March) with a gala screening of La grande bellezza directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

    The festival which is the oldest competitive festival in Bucharest will run until 2 April in five locations with nine films in competition as well as a number of sidebars.

    Bucharest International Film Festival has become a showcase where many of the best new feature productions have their Romanian premiers.

    This includes a selection of films presented at Venice Film Festival in 2013, Belle Vie by Jean Denizot, Bethleem by Yuval Adler and C.R.A.Z.Y by Jean-Marc Vallée. The festival will give and Excellence Award to the Romanian actor Dan Nuţu as a lifetime achievement award. There will also be a screening of a newly restored copy of Lawrence of Arabia in memory of Peter O'Toole and a hommage to Philip Seymour Hoffman with the screening Magnolia in a digitally restored version.

    The Panorama section comprises: La grande bellezza, Borgman, The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, Blind Detective, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, A Field in England, Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida (Opus Film, Phonex Film) Jeune et Jolie, Michael Kohlaas, Frances Ha. The festival has also a Focus on Chile with five features. Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties will close the festival.

    The festival is organised by Fundaţia Charta which selected the following films which will screen in the main competition:

    • 20,000 Days on Earth (Australia, UK) by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
    • Violet (Belgium, Netherlands) by Bas Devos
    • Upstream Colour (USA) by Shane Carruth
    • The Strange Little Cat (Germany) by Ramon Zürcher
    • The Selfish Giant (UK) by Clio Barnard
    • Stories We Tell (Canada) by Sarah Polley
    • Short Term 12 (USA) by Destin Cretton
    • In Bloom (Georgia, Germany, France), Directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross; Production: Polare Film; Supported by Georgian National Film Center
    • Filth (UK) by Jon S. Baird
    • 52 Tuesdays (Australia) by Sophie Hyde