There is so much happening at once in Bucharest these days, it is an embarrassment of riches. The Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF) has been screening fiction and documentary features while Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF) showcases experimental cinema, both recent and archival. They might sound irritatingly similar – abbreviations can be such a trap – but they couldn’t be more different. The overlapping period is not ideal and probably due to scheduling and funding-related reasons – the intricacies of festival logistics are deep and would derails this column but I’ll keep them in mind for a separate one – but I had no problem making BIEFF my choice for its outspokenness, its relevance, its dedication to works that are niche for much many, and its welcoming spirit.
The two days spent at the fest were painfully briefly but rewarding, both film-wise and for feeling included in a passionate, caring community. This is what BIEFF has been doing so well and what sets it apart from many festivals: emphasising the need for the collective, the dedicated, the politically conscious and brave. This year more than ever with the focus on two filmmakers’ collectives and in their ticketing policy: there were several types of passes, for individual financial affordability. A caring, inclusive decision. I remain so very moved by BIEFF and its team.
The 15th edition started with zero fuss (a short and concise introduction, no speeches, no protocol) and zero compromise. Their opening film addressed full on the horrifying crime against humanity we’ve been witnessing on our screens for almost two years now. Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza is made of material shot in the region in 2001 while Aljafari was looking for a friend he had met in prison. The Hasan of the title is the man who drives him around. 2001 was also the year of the Second Intifada and the besieged population in Gaza lives in constant danger, relentless attacks, death, and poverty. It is a deeply distressing, infuriating film about a people having been oppressed and killed for so so long.
This year’s focus is the absolute tonal shift: funny and playful. The works of the Argentine collective El Pampero Cine (Laura Citarella, Mariano Llinás, Agustín Mendilaharzu and Alejo Moguillansky) are creative and truly original, a word used too often but most fitting here. I caught Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen a few years ago and it was a revelation, a wonderfully playful, ingenious, clever, romantic film that slides through genres with ease and charm. It was screened here as well, and I hope you have nothing planned for your weekend because the fantastic and impressively playful La Flor (Martin Llinás) will follow. It is 14 (this is not typo!) hours long and will run in three parts. Here, I was delighted to catch a doc less known: Llinás’s Folk Traditions of the Land, a droll, loving, and – you know it by now – playful take on the musical tradition of Argentina. The Collective was there and introduced it most endearingly. Bonus: they also serenaded the audience in a concert after the film, which is also part of their new project. It cannot get more meta, and more fun.
A collaboration with Berlin arthouse cinema and archive Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art is also not to be missed. The previous days brought a selection of works by the Yugantar Film Collective, India’s first female film collective without any formal training in filmmaking. They made four films (all included here) in the 1980s depicting and calling for the organization and solidarity of women in matters of work and life. What follows is a collection of films that question dominant ideological attributions across former states of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union.
The Competition is equally dedicated to short and feature films. I did not catch the shorts competition, but its most exciting programme is to screen on Saturday: the national competition. I did better on the features and caught Maureen Fazendeiro’s The Seasons, a beautiful, pensive stroll through the Alejento area in Portugal, its traditions, landscape, history. Delicate and idyllic, I enjoyed it a lot but would have appreciated more historical backstory. Julian Castronovo’s Debut, or, Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued is a feature (well) debut, but what an intriguing, self-assured one. You might call it a detective story with many unexpected detours.
The weekend will bring grand stuff, so follow the BIEFF programme and selection here.
By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com
(Photo info & source: pic from the festival opening evening, courtesy of BIEFF’s Facebook page// fotos by Claudiu Popescu & Liana Rădulescu)
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