The Romanian National Film Center has announced that a selection committee comprising nine film critics favoured Radu Jude’s “I Do Not Care if We Go Down in History as Barbarians” [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] as the Romanian candidate for next year’s Oscars. A drama about the denial of the Holocaust in Romania, the feature will be competing alongside approximately 90 other pictures for a nomination in the Best Foreign-language Film category. The award will be handed out on 24 February 2019.

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The screenplay, written by Radu Jude, centres on Mariana (Ioana Iacob), a theatre director who wants to stage a public re-enactment of the Odessa Massacre during World War II, when the Romanian army executed thousands of innocent Jews. Although carefully documented, Mariana’s re-enactment is met with incredulous, negationistic reactions from the non-professional cast and city officials. The film was first screened in the main competition of this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, winning the top award, the Crystal Globe. 

“...Barbarians” was produced by Hi Film Productions (Romania), and co-produced by Endorfilm (Czech Republic), Les Films d’Ici (France), Klas Film (Bulgaria) and Komplizen Film (Germany). It is being handled internationally by Beta Cinema, and Romanian distributor microFILM will release it domestically on 28 September.

The film is Jude's second feature to represent Romania at the Oscars, after Aferim! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Radu Jude
scheda film] was a candidate in 2016. The country was previously represented by Adrian Sitaru’s The Fixer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Adrian Sitaru
intervista: Tudor Aaron Istodor
scheda film] (2018), Cristi Puiu’s Sieranevada [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Cristi Puiu
scheda film] (2017), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s The Japanese Dog [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (2015), Călin Peter Netzer’s Child’s Pose [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Calin Peter Netzer
scheda film] (2014) and Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cristian Mungiu
intervista: Cristian Mungiu
intervista: Cristian Mungiu
scheda film] (2013). 

No Romanian film has ever been nominated for an Oscar, with Beyond the Hills being the only title to have been shortlisted in the race for a nomination. In 2008, the snubbing of Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cristian Mungiu
intervista: Oleg Mutu
scheda film] sparked the ire of many American film critics, which allegedly prompted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to reorganise the nomination process for the Best Foreign-language Film category.