National Short Film Competition

Something is happening within Romanian cinema — and, as usual, the short film is the first to feel the change. Our festival reached the fourth edition of its National Short Film Competition; 2021, its first (pandemic) year, when the idea of such a yearly selection was nothing but improbable à la longue, seems now an era away. From then until now, BIEFF has been doing something that is truly unusual for Romanian culture — closely watching video-essays, dance films, video art, found footage, non-fiction and non-narratives, and questioning, understanding, and celebrating them as cinema. More and more Romanian filmmakers have been returning to our selection with new films, a state of play that can only excite us — for their image-making visions, sensibilities, and practices are becoming complex and sustainable projects which we’re extremely eager to follow, especially when they're projected onto the Cinematheque's screen. This year more than ever, the cinema of our National Competition takes as many forms as films. (Călin Boto)

Sections

Rehearsals for Peace

Anca Benera & Arnold Estefán | Duration 16' 26''

A tale from the 16th century narrates the story of Ursula, a female figure disguised as a man, who successfully chased away occupying intruders (at that time, the Ottomans) using the supersonic sound of a whip. This account purportedly originated in Cincu, the Transylvanian village which today houses one of N.A.T.O.’s key combat training zones in Romania.

Saint Georges

Alle Dicu | Duration 20'

In a flat, three women teach each other to look. To look at what? Samples of marble. Their vision and speech become more refined as they make the material their own.

Asphalt

Bogdan Georgian Alexandru | Duration 6’

A former construction worker meticulously recounts the laborious process of paving roads. Shot on Super 8mm, the film reflects on the origins of the roads we travel every day. A vague memory of the hot days when a stretch turns into a vital artery while the air vibrates turbulently.

Lucky Girl Syndrome

Raya al Souliman | Duration 14’ 14"

A self-reflecting collage made up of the director’s thoughts and moods while relocating to an alien, poetic Zurich.

Clare’s Decision Not to Get Up

Teona Galgoțiu | Duration 3’

Why do I have to get up every day and get lost in my routines? A protest against continuous movement.

Surge of Transference

Geo Barcan | Duration 15’

Surge of Transference is a video essay that investigates the expansion of the internet in a small Romanian town, where communities have formed and shifted around the newly imported Western technology. Within this micro-universe, the video traces the rapid transformation of the Internet, from the early days of peer-to-peer software to the upload of online late capitalism.

Bye Bye Confidence

Mădălina Zaharia | Duration 17’ 55"

Within the confines of a small south London flat, the filmmaker decides to finally say goodbye to her already lacking confidence and her friends come together to help her see this task through. Structured as a succession of informal conversations and exchanges between friends, Bye Bye Confidence opens up a space for un-mastering and un-learning expected behaviours.

On the Impossibility of an Homage

Xandra Popescu | Duration 19’

Who is responsible for the portrait, the painter or the subject? Ion Tugearu was a rockstar of ballet in Communist Romania. When discussing the possibility of a shooting, Ion is initially overjoyed. He’s been dreaming that someday there’d be a film about him. But as things progress, he finds it hard to accept the director's approach. He questions Xandra's ability to make the film happen.

The Tempest

Alex Mirutziu | Duration 14’ 36"

A film straddling the contemporary teaser culture and the legacy of Germaine Dulac’s visual style, emphasizing absolute freedom in imagery and analogies. Its brisk pace contrasts with sloppy campness, overacting, and sharp reflections on mortality and solitude. The text and voices in the film reflect a struggle for control over bodies and desires, exploring themes of permeability, the tender and pliable nature of the male physique and the satisfaction derived from the erosion of specific bodily boundaries.

Vakhtanguri

Valeriu Adimei | Duration 16’ 56"

Mindia and Joy meet one night in Tbilisi and start a long distance relationship, even if being queer is dangerous in Georgia. The two dream of a safer place and start a small vintage clothes business to save up. Soon, living in Georgia becomes exhausting, so they flee to Belgium to seek asylum.

A Dying Leaf Should Be Able to Carry the Weight of the World

Thea Lazăr | Duration 10’ 15"

A Dying Leaf Should Be Able to Carry the Weight of the World is a visit to the botanical garden and museum in Cluj-Napoca, a journey through time and space, a discovery of plants with unknown stories, of plants that don't exist anymore, of plants that can tell us as much about the past as they can about the future. Fossils, herbs and botanical illustrations are witnesses of the past, proof of evolution and change, but also prophets of what is yet to come.