The New Wave and The Documentary
Corneliu Porumboiu presents ...
Each participation at the Cannes Festival brought Corneliu Porumboiu an award, or even two, in the case of his latest production „Police, adjective”. His films are included in all the programmes dedicated to the Romanian New Wave cinema, and when it comes to “12.08 East of Bucharest”, programmers and critics often relate it to another documentary, “Videograms of a Revolution”, by Andrei Ujică and Harun Farocki. “Videograms...” is the first film in a trilogy on communism. Corneliu Porumboiu chose to present at Astra Film Festival 2009 the second film of Andrei Ujică’s trilogy, “Out of the Present”.
Out Of The Present, Andrei Ujică, 1995, 90 min
Cristi Puiu presents ...
"Sometime by the end of my second university year, Jean-André Fieschi, our professor of cinema history and theory, was outraged by one of our colleague’s exam film. ‘Do you think you’re demiurges? – he roared. Who, or what allows you disregard your fellow-men?’. Then, still shivering with indignation and anger, he lectured us about ethic, responsibility, and about love (?!). I am not sure how my colleagues took his passionate discourse, but it certainly gave me something to think about. I believed at the time, as I had that stupid callowness of someone coming from the fine arts field, that an artist was allowed to do anything he wanted, as long as he had something to express ( needless to say, I believed I myself had something to express!) I also believed in the real existence of the Ivory Tower. Naturally, I understood what Fieschi meant, but I was certain his words were no more than the speculations of a theoretician. Even if the professor’s outburst blew up part of my certainties, and although I wanted to believe him right, I failed to understand how the urge of creation can come to terms with loving your fellow men, in the mind of an artist… Therefore, I went on with my conviction that there was no connection whatsoever between Fieschi’s theory and real practice. A few months later, I discovered Cassavetes, and the “ivory tower” vaporized. Soon after that, I saw Wiseman’s "The Store", and I finally understood what Fieschi meant. I guess."
The Store, Frederick Wiseman, 1983, 118 min