Serban’s prison drama vies for Oscar nomination
A commission of film critics has selected If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ada Condeescu
film profile] as Romania's submission for the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations.
Young director Florin Serban's debut feature stars newcomers George Pistereanu and Ada Condeescu. It had its world première at the most recent Berlinale, where it won the Silver Bear and the Alfred Bauer Award.
Serban, who wrote the screenplay with Catalin Mitulescu (How I Celebrated the End of the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), made the movie through Strada Films, one of Romania's leading production companies. Strada released the film domestically through their distribution arm, Metropolis Film, and garnered 52,000 admissions in eight weeks.
The numbers make Serban's film the best-received Romanian feature since Palme d'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Oleg Mutu
film profile]. Released domestically in September 2007, Cristian Mungiu's second feature drew 70,000 admissions in ten weeks.
If I Want to Whistle was co-produced with Sweden's Film i Väst and The Chimney Pot and received €250,000 of its €900,000 budget from the Romanian National Center of Cinematography. World sales are handled by Celluloid Dreams.
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