Tipografic majuscul

The inherited psychosis that followed the communist regime in Romania has informed a great deal of the country’s cinema in recent years. Much of the so-called realism the filmmakers employ can be seen as a reaction to the untrustworthy images Nicolae Ceaușescu and his propaganda machine spread among the people. Radu Jude’s responses as such are either connected to unknown images that were held back or to a deconstruction of well-known images, like in this semi-adaption of Gianina Cărbunariu’s play. The film circles in “Brechtian” movements around the case of a young pupil who was inspired by Radio Free Europe to write chalk slogans demanding freedom or better food supply chains on walls in 1981. In addition to showing a production of said play, which works like an absurdist trial revealing the oppressive interplay between surveillance and obedience, Jude juxtaposes his narrative of injustice with at once hilarious and dreadful found footage material from the National Television Archives. The harsh cuts between both strands unmask the material which is, like the case itself, mainly concerned with children and young people who carry the scars of cowardice and collaboration with them into the future. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Radu Jude.

Radu Jude: THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (2009), A FILM FOR FRIENDS (2011), EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY (2012), SHADOW OF A CLOUD (2013, K), IT CAN PASS THROUGH THE WALL (2014, K), AFERIM! (2015), SCARRED HEARTS (2016), THE DEAD NATION (2017), I DO NOT CARE IF WE GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS BAR- BARIANS (2018), A PEDEPSI, A SUPRAVEGHEA (2019, K), THE EXIT OF THE TRAINS (2020, Ko-Regie)