07/02/2009

Laughter and applause received last night’s press screening of Radu June’s The Happiest Girl in the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the debut film (see news), selected in the Forum section of the Berlinale.

Delia, a young, small-town Romanian girl, is about to have a special day. In an old Dacia, she and her parents head to Bucharest to claim the prize she won through a soft drink: shoot a commercial and take home a luxury car.

The happiest day of her life will also become the longest, amid the summer heat, demands of the director and sponsor and the many takes in which Delia must repeat a sentence so trivial ("My name is Fratila Delia Cristina and I’m the happiest girl in the world") she keeps forgetting it. Yet she smiles, despite arguments with her parents, who have decided to sell the car in order to open a B&B to secure the family’s future.

Jude, a graduate of Bucharest’s Media University, previously won acclaim for several short films that picked up prizes at numerous festivals. He says: "The film speaks of lies and compromises, as well as happiness, sadness and consumerism. I also speak of capitalism in the goals of two parents who exploit their children in order to fulfil their own dreams".

The Happiest Girl was co-produced for €650,000 by Romania’s HiFilm and Holland’s Circe Film with financing from the Romanian Film Fund, Romanian National Television, Media Planning Group, the Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam Film Festival, Japanese broadcaster NHK (through the NHK/Filmmaker Awards of Sundance 2008) and support from the MEDIA Programme.

World sales are handled by Germany’s Films Boutique.

(Translated from Italian)