Tribute to Cristi Puiu

Tribute to programme, dedicated to authors whose uncompromising creative outlooks brought down many taboos in film and society alike, and attracted great attention of both the audiences and the critics, will present a retrospective of this exceptional filmmaker. 

 

This year’s Tribute to will take place from August 19 to 23, 2013. During the five-day programme, the following films will be presented: STUFF AND DOUGH (2001), THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (2005), AURORA (2010), TROIS EXCERCISES D'INTERPRETATION (2012), COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (2004) and BEFORE BREAKFAST (1995).

 

This is Puiu’s comeback to Sarajevo after he chaired the Jury of the 16th Sarajevo Film Festival’s Competition Programme – Feature Film.

 

Cristi Puiu belongs to the group of progressive Romanian filmmakers whose works over the past decade introduced Romanian film to the world. As a director, Puiu debuted 2001 with a low budget film STUFF AND DOUGH starring Alexandru Papadopol and Dragos Bucur. The film received several awards at international festivals, and, according to both critics and experts, it marked the beginning of the Romanian New Wave, soon to develop into one of the most important European cinematographies.      

     

After the initial success, Puiu’s films continue to be appreciated and recognized. His short feature COFFEE AND CIGARETTES was awarded the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival. 

 

His second feature film THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU had great success and won an impressive number of awards at festivals all over the world, including Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU was the first from the series of six films entitled SIX STORIES FROM THE OUTSKIRTS OF BUCHAREST that Puiu intends to make, to answer Eric Rohmer’s entitled SIX MORAL TALES. The second film from the series, AURORA, also screened at Cannes Film Festival within the Un Certain Regard Selection. 

 

Screening at the Tribute to programme will be followed by Q&A. There will also be a career interview where the audience, guests, and participants of this year’s Sarajevo Talent Campus will have the opportunity to meet Cristi Puiu.    

 

In previous years, Sarajevo Film Festival has hosted and presented retrospectives of the world’s most prominent authors, to a superb response of both the audience and the media.

 

Guests of the Sarajevo Film Festival Tribute to programme in previous years were:

 

•    Steve Buscemi 2000

•    Mike Leigh 2001

•    Stephen Frears 2002

•    Peter Mullan 2003

•    Dušan Makavejev and Gaspar Noe 2004

•    Alexander Payne 2005

•    Abel Ferrara and Béla Tarr 2006

•    Ulrich Seidl 2007

•    Todd Haynes 2008

•    Jia Zhang-ke 2009

•    Bruno Dumont 2010

•    Lucrecia Martel 2011

•    Todd Solondz 2012