23/03/2010

Romanian film Aurora, written and directed by Cristi Puiu, is in the final stages of post-production and is considered one of the possible Romanian entries for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Mandragora Movies – which also produced Puiu's first two features, Stuff and Dough (2001) and The Death of Mr Lazarescu [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Un Certain Regard Award, 2005) – has just released a series of one-minute teaser trailers.

Pitched for a long time as “the story of a murder”, Aurora depicts the midlife crisis of Viorel, 42 and divorced, who just quit his factory job. Viorel drifts through a bleak and cold Bucharest, trying to put an end to the insecurity that has dominated his life since he separated from his wife. The events take place in the present day and through Viorel's tribulations the film tries to analyze the reasons that could drive a man to murder.

After months of casting, Puiu decided to play the main character himself, thus becoming the first of the so-called “Romanian New Wave” of directors to pass in front of the camera. With many outdoor and driving scenes, Puiu had to get a driving licence before shooting began last spring.

Aurora is co-produced with Société Française de Coproduction (France), Bord Cadre Films (Switzerland) and Essential Filmproduktion (Germany) and in 2008 received €400,000 of its €1.4m budget from the Romanian National Center of Cinematography. The film is expected to have a domestic release in the autumn. World sales are handled by The Coproduction Office.

One of the country's leading production companies, Mandragora may also be in the Cannes line-up with Morgen, the feature debut of Marian Crişan, winner of the 2008 Palme d'Or for the short film Megatron (also produced by Mandragora). The European co-production tells the story of an illegal Kurd immigrant found near the Romanian-Hungarian border. The film's cast consists mainly of Transylvanian theatre actors.