METRONOM

Sceneggiatura / Screenplay: Alexandru Belc. Fotografia / Photography: Tudor Vladimir Panduru. Montaggio / Editing: Patricia Chelaru. Suono / Sound: Răzvan Ionescu, Julien Blasco. Scenografia / Art Director: Bogdan Ionescu. Costumi / Costume Designer: Ioanaa Covalcic. Interpreti / Cast: Mara Bugarin, Șerban Lazarovici, Vlad Ivanov, Mara Vicol, Mihai Călin, Andreea Bibiri, Alina Brezunțeanu . Produzione / Produced by: Strada Film, Midralgar. Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Chainsaw Europe Studio. Con il sostegno di / Supported by: Centrul Național al Cinematografiei, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine en partenariat avec le CNC, Aide aux cinémas du monde – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée et Institut français, Televiziunea Română. Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: Pyramide International. Distribuzione per l’Italia / Distributed in Italy by: Arthouse Film.

ITALIAN PREMIERE 

Bucharest, 1972. Ana, 17, dreams of love and freedom. One night, while partying with her friends, they decide to send a letter to Metronom, the musical program which Radio Free Europe broadcasts clandestinely in Romania. It is then that the Securitate, Ceaușescu’s secret police, arrives..
Metronom was presented at Cannes 2022, where the film received the Directing Prize of “Un Certain Regard”.

“Metronom started several years ago as a documentary about the seventies in Romania and especially about Metronom, the radio show clandestinaly broadcast by Radio Free Europe, animated by the Romanian radio journalist and producer Cornel Chiriac from exile, who got assassinated in Munich in 1975. My research was a personal foray into adolescence and into the teenager’s life in Romania at that time, the time of my parent’s youth. I find the post ’68 era the most interesting period of the communist regime, as it was the time of greatest social and cultural contradictions. Young people were all listening to Metronom who became as a window to the western life. Today, in a world where we are at one click away from anything, we often forget how it was to live in a time, under a strict regime, when it was very difficult to find a vinyl to listen or a good book to read. People were secretly listening to the forbidden Radio Free Europe. My initial goal of making a documentary film about the music and teenagers in the communist Romania turned into a love story, a coming of age drama, a story about deception, betrayal, and forgiveness.” (A. Belc)

Alexandru Belc
Alexandru Belc was born in 1980 in Romania. He graduated from the Bucharest Film School in 2007 and obtained a master’s degree in political sciences in 2012. During his studies, he made several short films and documentaries. He then worked as an Assistant Director for Corneliu Porumboiu and Cristian Mungiu. He worked as script supervisor on Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Palme d’Or at Cannes 2007. Metronom is his first fiction film.

filmografia scelta / selected filmography
2013 8 Martie doc. 2015 Cinema, mon amour doc.; Premi / Awards: Trieste FF – Cinema Warrior 2022 Metronom; Premi / Awards: Cannes FF – Premio della regia Un Certain Regard / Un Certain Regard Directing Prize; Jerusalem FF – Premio Nechama Rivilin per il Miglior film straniero / The Nechama Rivilin Award for Best International Film; Gijón IFF – Miglior film / Best Film