Premium
The film "West Side Story," directed by Steven Spielberg, opens on Friday, the sixth edition of the American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest.
After the screening, the audience will have the chance to discuss, through Zoom, with the American director Steven Spielberg, with film critic Andrei Gorzo to moderate the event. The event will be broadcast live on the Facebook page of the festival, informs a press release of the organizers sent to AGERPRES.
Also in the opening of the festival there will be announced the short list of projects that move to the next stage of the Screenplay Contest "Write a Screenplay for ... Ioana Bugarin." The actress will be present and she will announce the selection of the jury from more than 100 registered applications.
Among the newest films to be watched at AIFF.6 are: "Red Rocket" (in Competition at Cannes, 2021), "The Outfit" (Berlinale special, 2022), "The French Dispatch" (in Cannes, 2021), "Blue Bayou" (Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2021), "Land" (Directors to Watch Palm Springs Award 2021), "I Was a Simple Man" (nomination Grand Jury Prize Sundance 2021), "The Cathedral "Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, Venice 2021), "Down with the King" (Grand Deauville Festival Grand Prize), "C'mon C'mon" (nominated at the Independent Spirit Film Awards.
The AIFF programme will include three masterpieces that few have had the opportunity to see on the big screen, much less in restored versions: the tragic musical "West Side Story," which was awarded 10 Oscars, "Duel," the unbearable thriller of young man Steven Spielberg and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."
Movies such as "Flee" or "Maidan" are scheduled in the Challenging Documentaries section. "Flee" was twice nominated for the Oscars 2022 Oscars Best Documentary and Best Animated Film and tells a story based on Afghan drama, while from "Maidan" we can better understand the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also the principles that inspire the heroic defence of the Ukrainians, the organizers specify.
The "Open Talks" debates are part of the festival's tradition. This year's edition will address a hot and controversial topic: "From Woke to Cancel Culture - A Conversation on the Consequences of Political Correctness." The history and evolution of the two concepts will be analyzed, and also their presence in the Romanian society, Agerpres.ro informs.
At the sixth edition, the American Independent Film Festival shows its solidarity with Ukraine through a partnership with AIFF Kyiv, the last edition of which had to be canceled due to the current events in Ukraine, by dedicating a day to this programme and to the Ukrainians, and by donating all the proceeds to support the war refugees and their pets, inform the organizers.
The closing of the festival will feature Sergei Loznitsa's documentary "Maidan," which recounts the 2014 demonstrations in Ukraine that culminated in the overthrow of the regime and triggered events that resonate with today's conflict. The screening of the film will be followed by an in-room discussion on the geo-political situation in Europe, with the participation of Nataliya Arno - founder and president of the Free Russia Foundation, a foundation that is based in Washington (US), which, through its regional actions in European capitals such as Kyiv, Tbilisi, Prague, and Berlin, unifies and coordinates the global efforts of pro-democracy activists, organizations, and programmes around the world.
The American Independent Film Festival.6 will take place over April 15-21, at the Elvire Popesco Cinema and the Peasant Museum Cinema (Horia Bernea Studio).
