03/03/2011

Usually dominated by arthouse titles, Romanian screens will do some spring cleaning in March and April, when three domestic comedies will try to attract a public famously indifferent to the critically acclaimed minimalist films by the country's directors.

The first to try and satisfy audiences’ appetites for comedy is Hello! How Are You? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandru Maftei
film profile], Alexandru Maftei’s second feature, premiering March 4. Screened at the 2010 Transylvania International Film Festival, the romantic comedy revisits a genre long forgotten by local cinema. Lia Bugnar’s screenplay was inspired by an article published a few years ago in the Italian press and follows the online (mis)adventures of Gabriel and Gabriela, a couple with two decades of a comfortable marriage behind them, but without any love or desire left in their relationship.

The project received a “minimalist” grant (only €90,000) from the Romanian Film Centre in 2006 and Maftei had to wait three more years to put together the €800,000 budget. Produced by Rollin Studio, the film is handled internationally by M-Appeal and is being distributed domestically by Voodoo Films.

An entirely independent production, La bani, la cap, la oase marks the directorial debut of Cristian Comeaga, who produced Nae Caranfil's Filantropica (2002), the second most popular Romanian film of the last 20 years. Featuring an ensemble cast, La bani tells the story of a group of small-time crooks, rich gangsters and a bank clerk who desperately try to rob an armoured car supposedly full of money. Producer-distributor Domino Film will release it March 18.

April offers The Godmother, a comedy from one of the country's most prolific production companies, MediaPro. The project received a €200,000 grant in 2006 but production was delayed and the director changed. In the story co-directed by Virgil Nicolaescu and Jesus del Cerro, Jennifer (Whitney Anderson), an American teacher in Bucharest, takes on the local mob to prove her Romanian husband (Dragos Bucur) innocent after he is accused of money laundering. The film is scheduled for an April 29 release by MediaPro Distribution.