2010 has been another good year for Romanian cinema. Lots of awards and many new young directors that confirmed films like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days directed by Cristian Mungiu or Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective weren't accidents. As some people call it, the "Romanian New Wave", continued to gain the world’s attention at film festivals through 2010, featuring new filmmakers that have just made their first feature film.
The section I normally avoid not because I don't want to see all 12 selected films, but because there are only so many hours in a day will house a pair of docus films that I'm looking forward in seeing. One is directed by Oscar-winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire) and pertains to a subject thatis close to my heart - Project Nim might make just make a powerful statement about the grave mistake we humans make in not identifying ourselves with the non-human species. In Senna, the other docu of interest is from an already establish filmmaker in Asif Kapadia who takes us for a spin with car racing legend Ayrton Senna.
Though the film has received decent reviews and a lukewarm, if not sometimes negative reception, I can only hope that Amenta’s future projects aren’t so message laden and poorly constructed. While it may have a seemingly noteworthy subject matter, The Sicilian Girl is as trite as television movie of the week and reads as a narrative about a girl that tattled because she felt entitled to better treatment for her family.
Not to be confused with The Australian Film Institute Awards, the Inside Film Awards are set to take place at the City Recital Hall Angel Place in Sydney on November the 14th. Picking up the most nominations, it has long been established that 2010 was the year of Animal Kingdom.
Over 295 films - this includes shorts, fiction and documentary, animation, retrospectives, tributes, professional panels, outdoor interactive installations, the festival which takes place between the 13th to the 24th of October, furiously promotes not only world talent, but local French Canadian filmmakers. Among the notable titles, we have Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro volte, Olivier Assayas' Carlos and Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus and Wang Bing is doing a Master Class for Venice-winning The Ditch. His epic 9 hour film Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks will also be shown as part of a retrospective.