07/04/2014 - Bucharest IFF top award goes to the UK, NexT screens hundreds of shorts, and Diplomacy opens the third edition of Cinepolitica

The 10^th edition of the Bucharest International Film Festival ended last week with the festival’s top award going to the UK production The Selfish Giant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Clio Barnard
interview: Clio Barnard
film profile], Clio Barnard’s second feature. The Jury Grand Prix went to Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12, while the Best Director Award was won by Sarah Polley for Stories We Tell. Romanian DoP Oleg Mutu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Oleg Mutu
film profile]) won the Best Cinematography Award for In Bloom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simo…
film profile], the Georgian production directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross.

Beginning on 3 April, Romania’s most popular short-film festival, NexT, opened its 8^th edition with After the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Basil da Cunha
film profile] (Switzerland-Portugal), the first feature by Basil da Cunha, winner of the festival’s top award last year with his short The Living Also Cry. Over five days, the festival screens hundreds of shorts from all over the world and diversifies its offer with two events especially designed for young directors: NexT Short Film Market and The Pitch. The first programme introduces young directors and their projects to more than 20 Romanian and foreign producers, while The Pitch asks the directors to pitch their screenplay ideas and selects five projects based on how many “likes” they get on Facebook. A jury of film professionals then chooses one winner.

The festival’s star guest is UK director Peter Webber (The Girl with a Pearl Earring [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), who is on the jury and is also leading a masterclass for the students from the National University of Theatre and Film. Several NexT sidebars are showing shorts nominated for the Academy Awards, the European Film Awards, or those selected at Cannes.

Tomorrow, Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomacy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will open the third edition of Cinepolitica, which, over six days, will screen the most recent, controversial and relevant films about worldwide politics. The festival will end on 13 April with Feng Xiaogang’s Back to 1942, a film starring Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins. Eight productions from Egypt, India, the UK, France, Brazil, Croatia, Argentina and Ukraine will be competing for the festival’s top award.