18/09/2008

Stefan Bradea is one of those “invisible” professionals the business cannot do without. Four years since their first premiere, Transilvania Film, the company founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Bradea, are one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. This is why Romanian Film Promotion, the local partners of European Film Promotion, nominated Bradea to represent his country in the European Distributors Up Next! Training Programme.

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Cineuropa: What is your background in film distribution?
Stefan Bradea: I have been in distribution for the past six years. First I worked as a marketing and PR manager for the Romanian bureau of Greek distribution company Prooptiki. After that, I had the chance to work with Tudor Giurgiu and Transylvania IFF’s team, with whom I was able to start Transilvania Film in 2004.

What is Transilvania Film’s profile?
In the beginning we distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually extended our focus to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Our profile is eclectic, though our target is still the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35.

What is the latest European feature that you distributed and what are your plans for the next few months in terms of European premieres?
Our latest premiere was Non pensarci [+see also:
trailer
film profile] [by Gianni Zanasi], an Italian comedy which was very successful at this year’s Transylvania IFF. Our planning for the next months includes Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in late September and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s Silent Wedding, Adrian Sitaru’s Hooked [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
film profile] and Anca Damian’s debut, Crossing Dates.

What is the biggest box office hit that your company has distributed?
The most profitable film we distributed is Tudor Giurgiu’s Love Sick, with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features we distributed were Neil Burger’s The Illusionist, with 11,500 admissions, and Paris Je T’Aime, with 9,715 admissions.

How would you characterize the film distribution business in Romania?
This is a rather unstable business in Romania. When it comes to cinemas, there are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year, on 40-50 screens around the country. Distribution licences get more expensive every year, while the number of distribution companies also grows. One may say we are a bit crowded.

What are the three biggest problems facing a Romanian distributor of European films?
First, there is a lack of interest from the Romanian mainstream public for European arthouse film. Second, there is a very limited number of available screens, a complete lack of arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. Third, I would mention the competition among distributors and intermediating companies.

What do you expect to learn in San Sebastian? What are your thoughts on this training programme?
I expect to have collaboration opportunities with Spanish and South American sales agents. San Sebastian attracts many professionals from all around Europe, Asia and America and I feel very honoured to represent Romanian film distribution in this training programme.