Cristi Puiu

Romania – Serbia – Sweden – Switzerland – Bosnia and Herzegovina – North Macedonia
2020, HD, col., 200’
French – German – Russian – Hungarian o.v.

Sceneggiatura / Screenplay: Cristi Puiu, tratta da I tre dialoghi e il racconto dell’Anticristo di Vladimir Solov’ëv / based on Three Conversations by Vladimir Solovyov. Fotografia / Photography: Tudor Panduru. Montaggio / Editing: Bogdan Zărnoianu, Dragoș Apetri, Andrei Iancu. Suono / Sound: Jean Paul Bernard, Christophe Vingtriner. Scenografia / Art Director: Cristina Barbu. Costumi / Costume Designer: Oana Păunescu. Interpreti / Cast: Agathe Bosch, Frédéric Schulz-Richard, Ugo Broussot, Diana Sakalauskaité, Marina Palii, István Teglás. Produzione / Produced by: Mandragora. Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Bord Cadre Films, Doppelganger, Sense Production, Cinnamon Films, Film i Väst, Sister and Brother Mitevski, Production 2006 Sarajevo. In associazione con / In association with: Sovereign Films, Asociația Culturală Iadasarecasa, CNC, România Studioul de Creație Cinematografică al Ministerului Culturii, SRTV, Canton Sarajevo, North Macedonia Film, Agency Ministry of Culture and Sports/Republic Of Serbia, Ministry of Culture and Information, Film Center Serbia. Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: Shellac Films.

ITALIAN PREMIERE

Nikolai, a landowner, a man of the world, places his country estate at the disposal of some friends, by organizing a sojourn at the spacious manor house. For the guests, among which we find a politician, a young countess, a Russian General and his wife, time passes at the house with rich meals, society games and by engaging in a long discussion about death and the Antichrist, progress and morality. As the discussion gradually takes shape and the various topics are broached, each of them lays out his vision of the world, history, and religion. The hours pass, the discussion becomes more heated, the topics become more and more serious, and differences of culture and viewpoints grow increasingly apparent.
Best Director Award of the “Encounters” section at the Berlinale 2020, where the film had its premiere.

“The risk of manipulating events or distorting the author’s intention in order to put forward your own ideas, seems almost insurmountable. Perhaps this is why this screen version of Vladimir Solovyov’s Three Conversations seems to be a doubly onerous task … At the same time, in regard to the cinema properly speaking, the text constrains me to reformulate a large part of everything that has to do with image, acting and setting within a story told in the past tense. Therefore I decided to conceive the film as an interrogation on cinema and memory, allowing myself to imagine it step by step everyday, taking into account each vibration of the space, every change of the daylight, every fluctuation of the weather, every spasm of my intuition. These are the limits within which I plan to install my personal interpretation of a text that I consider to be, in many ways, prophetic.” (C. Puiu)

Cristi Puiu
Director and screenwriter, one of the leading personality of the Romanian New Wave and one of the most significant European filmmakers, Cristi Puiu was born in Bucharest in 1967. In 2004 with Anca Puiu and Alex Munteanu he founded a cinema production company, naming it Mandragora. The Trieste FF presented all his films. In 2017 he held a Masterclass at the Trieste FF as part of a tribute to Romanian cinema. Cristi Puiu will hold the masterclass of this festival edition.

filmografia scelta / selected filmography
2001 Marfa și banii (Stuff and Dough); Premi / Awards: Cottbus FF – Premio Speciale della Giuria / Special Prize of the Jury; Trieste FF – Premio Speciale della Giuria / Special Prize of the Jury 2003 Un cartuș de kent și un pachet de cafea cm / sf; Premi / Awards: Berlinale – Orso d’Oro al Miglior Cortometraggio / Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2005 Moartea Domnului Lăzărescu (The Death of Mister Lazarescu / La morte del signor Lazarescu); Premi / Awards: Cannes – Miglior film nella sezione “Un Certain Regard” / “Un Certain Regard” Award; Trieste Film Festival – “Premio Trieste” come Miglior film / “Trieste Prize” as Best Feature Film 2010 Aurora; Premi / Awards: Karlovy Vary IFF – Miglior film nella sezione “East of the West” / Best Film in the “East of the West” section 2016 Sieranevada 2020 Malmkrog; Premi / Awards: Berlinale – Miglior regia nella sezione / Best Director in the section “Encounters”

Mandragora
Strada Gheorghe Brătianu 4
011413 Bucharest 1
Romania
tel. +40 21 2220558
www.mandragora.ro

Shellac Films
sales@shellacfilms.com
www.shellacfilms.com