Frame to Frame
Shining a Light On Romanian Cinema
The opening scene of The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu begins with a blurry scene of the Romanian dictator denying charges of ordering a genocide.
He sits beside his aged wife behind a barricade of desks. The scene flashes with black and white pops that suggests the filmstrip has been left to deteriorate—but the memory of the dictator is far from faded.
This is the first film in the Fine Arts Student Alliance’s film series, From Under the Shadow. The film, directed by Romanian Andrei Ujica, takes its place among a movement dubbed New Romanian Cinema, where the films tell stories of Romanians before and after the fall of the brutal Ceausescu.
Over then next two Saturdays, FASA will be screening four more of these films for free at the J.A. de Seve Cinema.
“The first two weeks of programming attempt, through different cinematic designs, to provide an identifiable image of this life to the audience,” said curator Jesse Cumming.
“Rather than broad, sweeping narratives, the filmmakers craft their stories around very few characters, showing how tyranny impacts them on an individual level.
The final week of films take place in present day Romania, where citizens are no longer oppressed by omnipresent powers.”
Stylistically, the films are minimalist with touches of black humour that weave together how individuals handle life after a communist dictator is brought to his knees.
While the themes explored are heavy, the insight into this world is carefully crafted. When the lights come on in the theater the audience feels like it has a much more human understanding of the situation in Romania.
The film opened with a statement from Dr. Max Bergholz, of Concordia’s Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, who is also setting up the next film in the series.
“I would encourage you to be patient as you watch this film,” said Berholz, “and watch as this world, his world, his universe slowly begins to crystallize on screen through this archival footage that the director has carefully pieced together.”
Rebecca Kelley, an audience member of Romanian descent couldn’t believe filmmakers could edit so much of Ceausescu’s life into a three-hour film, which takes you inside his world. “It seemed like it would be such an exclusive thing to be
at that place, and for someone to be filming that.”
Filmgoers in the audience said they plan on seeing more films from the movement.
“I find it exceedingly rare in modern cinema to find a group of filmmakers producing such interesting and consistent work that is able to function cohesively, as a whole,” said Cumming. “This is one of the reasons we were so happy to be able to a number of the films, rather than just one.”
Check out the film schedule on the FASA website at fineartsstudentalliance.ca.
