Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014: #5. Cristi Puiu’s Sierra-Nevada

Sierra-Nevada

Director: Cristi Puiu
Writer: Cristi Puiu
Producers: Mandragora’s Anca Puiu and Slot Machine’s Marianne Slot
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: No word yet, but we expect a recognizable face or two.

We might be haphazardly reaping the benefits of Cristi Puiu and Cristian Mungiu shooting in opposite years, and for that we are thankful. It would appear we’ve got another two decades worth of annual films coming our way form both Romanian masterworkers, and contrary to what we might have believed earlier in the year, development on The Manor House was set aside for Sierra-Nevada instead. Would this make it three for three when we include his experimental ‘Three Exercises of Interpretation project.

Gist: Inspired by Romanian Aurel Rau’s poem The Agathirsoi, this is about a family reunion and in the words of the filmmaker “a commemoration that never gets to take place…where its characters escape into fiction when overwhelmed by a grief they cannot understand.”

Release Date: On paper we know that the production might have began late this year, and if they chartered a course of intense editing (his films revolve around the 180 minute mark) then everything indicates that after Cannes showings for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and really landing with an impressive thud in his ’08 feature Aurora (we’re in the minority in thinking it was his best work to date), we could be revisiting with him in Cannes once again. Forecast for a 2015 might be more realistic.

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