Last October and November I spent a month in Timi\u0219oara on a scholarship awarded by Taifas\nBalkan Film and Culture Festival in collaboration with the \u201cTwo Owls\u201d Bookshop.<\/p>\n
The events that accompanied the films were just as important as the festival itself.<\/p>\n
Taifas Balkan Film and Culture Festival is, for me, a great novelty. In the last fifteen years, I\nhave been to dozens and dozens of festivals and I have been offered many scholarships. What I\nhave noticed this time is the attempt to extend the range of the cultural and artistic area, and the\nongoing educational and social development. This, for me, is very attractive.<\/p>\n
At Taifas Festival things are like this: the central element is the Balkan film, to which music,\nliterature, education, and gastronomy elements are added. The festival also has a major social part.<\/p>\n
The festival had its first edition this year. I greatly appreciate that it is open to the very young\npublic, from young children to high-school and university students. This is perhaps the main\nelement that can have long-term effects.<\/p>\n
Here I should mention the Education through Film\nSymposium, which aims to \u201cconsolidate the research network of the East-European film and at the\nsame time to give teachers the opportunity to use film as a teaching resource in the classroom.\u201d\nDuring the symposium, film projections take place in schools and public spaces.<\/p>\n
Taifas also offers literary residences. This year there were four guest authors: Moni St\u0103nil\u0103,\nAlexandru Vakulovski, Adrian \u0218chiop and myself. Our job was to write about a Balkan theme, and\nto meet the public at \u201cTwo Owls\u201d and the high-school students.<\/p>\n
There was also a Film Residence that brought together young Balkan directors for a week of\nfilm learning and practice. This part was especially important to me, because I had the chance to\nmeet several talented young people from Bessarabia who are rarely given such opportunities.<\/p>\n
Besides the films and the above-mentioned key events, which may not have been very visible,\nbut were essential to the festival, there was also music. The festival opened with Simion Bogdan-\nMihai & L\u0103utarii de m\u0103tase (The Silk Folk Musicians), whose guests were the young members of\nthe Crescut pe muzic\u0103 (Growing up with Music) folk band and also beginner instrumentalists, which\nmade the event spectacular. It was a memorable evening at the Banatul Philharmonic of Timi\u0219oara.\nEven the local sticklers for etiquette danced on the folk rhythms.<\/p>\n
At the weekend we had a Disco Party Balkanic with Ligia Ke\u0219i\u0219ian, at Nemesis Art Club.\nThere was a lot of dancing.<\/p>\n
That weekend we also attended a special gastronomy event that impressed me in particular:\nHRANA Balkan gastro-cultural event, Food-concept by Alina S\u0103ftulescu, music from Radio Kibu\u021b \u2013\neverything at the famous Reciproc Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Balkan film in Timisoara<\/p>\n
When the films are chosen by Monica Felea and \u0218tefan Bradea, you have nothing to comment.\nThe Bad Unicorn team is one of our most professional ones and everything they recommended\nsuited my taste. I have great respect for their work.<\/p>\n
The first film that touched me deeply was A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes, an Albania-Greece-\nKosovo-Portugal production from 2022, directed by Gentian Ko\u00e7i. Cast: Rafael Morais, Edgar\nMorais, Drita Kabashi.<\/p>\n
It is a multi-awarded film with an excellent theme and storytelling. Two\n\ntwins, Agim and Gezim, played by two Portuguese actors, brothers Rafael and Edgar Morais, live\nsomewhere in Albania. They are deaf-mute and live for each other. Not having a family, they have\npromised to take care of each other.<\/p>\n
In their seemingly peaceful and good lives, a terrible tragedy is announced: a very rare\nhereditary disease affects their vision.<\/p>\n
What will the two young people do? They are alone \u2013 only\none of them has a girlfriend. How will they handle life? How will they deal with the great\nmisfortune that awaits them?<\/p>\n
In this film you see how two men who have always depended on each other suddenly find\nthemselves completely helpless, since they can\u2019t hear, speak or see. It is a metaphor of total\naddiction to the other. We cannot be alone in the face of death. We need the other even if we are to\ndie on our own, each for themselves. The idea that you only succeed through yourself is entirely\nfalse. We need each other even in death \u2013 especially in death. And disease is just a warning \u2013 the\nfilm gives this warning. The end is even more surprising. Don\u2019t miss this film, it you have the\nopportunity to see it.<\/p>\n
Another memorable film was Europe, Albania, Austria, UK, 2023, directed by Sudabeh\nMorteza. Cast: Lilith Stangenberg, Jetnor Gorize, Steljona Kadillari, Mirando Syllari, Tobias\nWinter.<\/p>\n
A corporation active in one the \u201cfirst-world\u201d countries sends an ambitious representative to\nthe \u201cthird world\u201d, the Balkans, to make expansion preparations \u2013 as any corporation does. The film\nis a kind of Avatar, not SF, but displaying the Balkan realism that is very familiar to us.<\/p>\n
The\n\u201cinspector of civilization\u201d faces a seemingly underdeveloped and poor world that she tries to lure\nand conquer not by force, but with money. The \u201caboriginals\u201d, however, refuse to leave their land,\nbecause they aren\u2019t attached to it pragmatically, but traditionally, through their traditions and\nbeliefs. Money cannot melt their beliefs easily. People are not yet sufficiently \u201ccivilised\u201d.<\/p>\n
What attracts us in this film is the familiarity of both its themes and behavioural types. While\nseeing it, one of my eyes was laughing and the other was crying and I had the feeling that I was\nwatching the whole scene in a village in Oltenia, Moldova or Transylvania. So familiar are the\nthemes and customs, that you can understand everything even if you don\u2019t know the language.<\/p>\n
The authenticity of the film lies mainly in the fact that most actors are not professional actors,\nbut people from the community. And like with any eastern ending, we witness what we already\nknow: Eastern Europe is always surprising and the Balkans are always beyond the limit of the\nsurprise.<\/p>\n
A great surprise was White Plastic Sky, Hungary-Slovakia, 2023, directed by Tibor\nB\u00e1n\u00f3czki and Sarolta Szab\u00f3. Cast: Tamas Kereztes, Zsofia Szamosi, G\u00e9za D. Heged\u00fcs.<\/p>\n
It is the\nkind of film that becomes a sensation not only for its theme, but also for its stylistic parts. This\nmagnificent and emotional animation is full of ideas that keep you in suspense and contains\nreferences to a lot of other masterpieces of the genre. I haven\u2019t seen something so powerful and\nimpressive for a long time.<\/p>\n
The action is placed in Budapest, in 2123. We are introduced to a world\nin which after you turn 50 your body becomes the property of the state. What this means is unclear\nat first, and gradually things become more complicated. The city looks impeccable with its well-\ndefined futuristic style, and its citizens seem to live a happy life. However, advertisements urge\neveryone to have children as early as possible, \u201cso you can still meet your grandchildren\u201d, and\n\u201cvoluntary implants\u201d. Some people are sent to the \u201cplantation\u201d.<\/p>\n
It seems that the Earth has become completely barren and a scientist has invented a way to turn\npeople into trees by injecting a \u201cseed\u201d into their hearts. Trees that have grown from their bodies\n\nmust provide food for the living. Consequently, everyone has to get the injection when they are 50,\nso that the others have what to eat.<\/p>\n
The story begins when Nora, a 32-year-old woman who mourns the death of her child, receives\na voluntary implant. Her husband, Stefan, decides to find a mysterious scientist who can surgically\nremove the seed before his wife is lost forever.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to tell you what happens in the film. It deals with a number of contemporary\nworrying topics and does this in a unique way. It is probably the most beautiful and significant film\nI have seen lately. It is a must and it can be watched by children as well.<\/p>\n
What else is to say? I would like to thank the organisers of this wonderful event: Dana Sarme\u0219\n\u2013 the life and soul of the festival; Monica Felea & \u0218tefan Bradea, Andrea Reisz & C\u0103t\u0103lin Olaru &\nAlexandru Hygied & Simona Constantin, the two \u201cowls\u201d Raluca Selejan & Oana Dobo\u0219i. Special\nthanks to Mihai Tilinc\u0103.<\/p>\n
I hope that this very promising start will be followed by many similarly professional editions. I\nhave great confidence in the organisers.<\/p>\n
The event was organised by Contrasens Cultural Association, Bad Unicorn, and financed by the\nAdministration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN \u2013 the Ministry of Culture), through the\nTimisoara Project Centre.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00cen lunile octombrie \u015fi noiembrie am stat o lun\u0103 la Timi\u0219oara ca bursier: am primit o burs\u0103 de crea\u021bie\u00a0Taifas\u00a0\u00een colaborare cu libr\u0103ria\u00a0La Dou\u0103 Bufni\u021be. Evenimentele de pe l\u00e2ng\u0103 film la fel de importante Festivalul de Film \u0219i Cultur\u0103 Balcanic\u0103 – Taifas\u00a0este pentru mine o noutate. Am fost \u00een ultimii cincisprezece ani la zeci \u015fi zeci […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-7274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cronica-taifas-2023","tag-vasile-ernu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7495,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274\/revisions\/7495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taifasfestival.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}