Diagnosed with a brain tumor and given three years to live, filmmaker Răzvan Georgescu decides to overcome the solemnity of this prognosis to explore the realm between life and death by interviewing some of its prominent inhabitants: famous artists who have had a traumatic brush with mortality and were given a limited amount of time to live. Can death and illness be a motor for creativity? Can creativity arm us against oblivion?
“This documentary transforms in a surprising way a very hard and frightening private situation into a constructive and thoughtful journey about our life on this earth. The director succeeds in giving his own illness a philosophical approach to time, life and art and he reminds us of the simple message that we have to live when we are alive. This outstanding programme tells the never ending story about life and death and life again.” – The Jury of Prix Europa
Written and Directed by: Răzvan Georgescu
Original title: Testimonial
Romania/Germany, 2008, 90 minutes
LEARN MORE:
The Romanian Cultural Institute of New York
The New York Times coverage of the Romanian New Wave
This film is part of the series The Romanian New Wave, a special Cinemondo presentation brought to you by Link TV in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York.
Starting in 2001, Romanian cinema surprised the world with a group of new filmmakers in their late thirties. Their movies - intense, dark humored and down to earth - were consistent with a radical belief that film in Romania could break through artistically. Responding to the hectic and sometimes chaotic post-Communist landscape, they took simple life stories and urban fables, and turned them into globally affecting films.
Broadly acclaimed by the international film press, and stubbornly productive despite a lack of resources, these young directors were regarded at first with disdain by Romanian critics. Yet slowly but surely they gained legitimacy, winning awards at Cannes and other major film festivals, and in the process putting Romanian cinema on the world map.
The films in this special series all come from this “new wave” of Romanian filmmakers. Few of them have had any theatrical exposure in the U.S., and through Cinemondo will reach a nationwide TV audience for the first time. Among the many highlights are Cristi Puiu’s Stuff and Dough, Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest, Muntean’s The Paper Will Be Blue, and Nemescu’s Marilena From P7. Because documentary filmmaking has flourished alongside fictional films in Romania, three outstanding works are included in the series: Bar de Zi, Cold Waves and Testimony.
The Romanian New Wave series is a joint project of Link TV and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, which arranged for these gems of world cinema to appear on Cinemondo and reach millions of American homes. Enjoy!
Corina Suteu, Director, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Steven Lawrence, Vice President, Music & Cultural Programming, Link TV
Close
Cancel Response
Post Response