Aferim!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Aferim! |
| Country of production |
Romania , Bulgaria , Czech Republic , France |
| original language |
Romanian , Turkish , Romani |
| Publishing year | 2015 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Radu Jew |
| script | Radu Jude, Florin Lazarescu |
| production | Ada Solomon |
| music |
Dana Bunescu , Tre Parale |
| camera | Marius Panduru |
| cut | Catalin Cristutiu |
| occupation | |
| |
Aferim! is a Romanian- Bulgarian- Czech- French film drama by the Romanian film director Radu Jude , which premiered on February 11, 2015 at the Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director for Jude . The idea for the film came from the Romanian writer Florin Lazarescu , who was also involved in the script for the film. The film is often referred to as a Balkan Western in the trade press . The film title Aferim! is a Turkish loan word in Romanian and means something like Bravo .
action
In the early 19th century, the boyar Iordache Cîndescu in Wallachia, Romania, instructs the policeman Costandin to find the " gypsy slave " Carfin Pandolean, who had an affair with his wife Sultana and then fled from the aristocrat's estate.
Constable Costandin goes on a search for the escaped with his son and deputy Ionită. In Wallachia, where power and wealth lie in the hands of a few boyars, they search villages, monasteries and estates and encounter bandits, farmers, stagecoach drivers and talkative peasants, including a priest whose wisdom consists of a hair-raising litany of ugly ethnic prejudice.
The two meet a number of other people of different nationalities and different beliefs, each of whom have prejudices against the other that have been passed on from generation to generation. When they finally find the slave Carfin, they tie his feet and put him on Costandin's horse. On the way back to the boyar Cîndescu, to whom they want to hand over the fugitives, they stop in a village. Here Ionită loses his innocence during a night with a prostitute.
Historical background
The film is based on historical documents and songs. At the time the film is set, Roma were slaves and considered rabble, and the princes could do whatever they wanted with them, sell them on or treat them like animals; they just weren't allowed to be killed. It was not until around 1850 that was serfdom banned in Romania.
production
financing
The film was produced by Gringo Film and funded as a Romanian-Bulgarian co-production by the Film- und Medienstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen with 180,000 euros. The budget for the film was an estimated 1.4 million euros.
Filming
The shooting took place in Wallachia, Great Wallachia , Dobruja , a border area between south-east Romania and north-east Bulgaria, in the Tulcea district there (including in the Măcin Mountains ) and in the Giurgiu district. In order to faithfully reproduce the then prevailing Turkish influence depicted in the plot of the film, backdrops had to be reconstructed. The film was also shot in black and white .
publication
The film premiered on February 11, 2015 as part of the Berlin International Film Festival . The film was released in Romanian cinemas on March 6, 2015, in French cinemas on August 5, 2015 and in selected US cinemas on January 22, 2016 .
reception
Reviews
The film shows that the systematic destruction of human dignity was a fact in the life of Roma at the beginning of the 19th century, was able to convince 98 percent of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes and was thus one of the best rated films of 2016. RBB online .de describes Jude's film as a parable about late feudal Europe [...], which brings the cacophony of the time to life and strikes the thematic arc up to our present day. The Hollywood Reporter describes the film as a tough history lesson that is loosened up with a dose of humor and Western elements. Variety's Jay Weissberg describes Aferim! as an extraordinary and extremely intelligent portrayal of a crucial phase in history. Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian compares the gallows humor that the film displays over long periods despite all the tragedy with works by Robert Altman .
Regarding the use of the term " Gypsy " (Țigani) in the film, which has since disappeared from media usage , Felix Zwinzscher from DIE WELT remarks : Radu Jude said with his Romanian western 'Aferim!' a film "produced without a single politically correct sentence." Zwinzscher is of the opinion that while in German the term Gypsy is derogatory, it goes through in the film as "cordial" since Roma are only referred to as crows and used as a tool.
Awards
At the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival , Radu Jude was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director and the Grand Prize City of Lisbon and the Distribution Award at the IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival . At the Sofia International Film Festival 2015, Jude received a special mention with the Sofia Municipality Award. In the same year the film was nominated for the European Film Awards and Lazarescu and Jude as screenwriters . In addition, the film was proposed as a Romanian entry in the category Best Foreign Language Film for the Oscars , but was not nominated. The film was nominated for the audience award as part of the European Film Award 2016 . Marius Panduru was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Chlotrudis Awards 2017 .
Web links
- Aferim! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Aferim! at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aferim! In: berlinale.de. Retrieved January 23, 2016 (PDF)
- ↑ Cornelius Hell: Florin Lazarescu: Laughable Absurdities In: derstandard.at, May 23, 2014.
- ↑ a b Jordan Hoffman: Aferim! review: a brutal manhunt loaded with laughs In: theguardian.com, January 20, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d Corina Sabău: Historical Balkan Western 'Aferim!' is looking for an Oscar. In: www.rri.ro, August 11, 2015.
- ↑ Berlinale: 'Aferim': Time of Slavery. Roma are slaves, rabble. Where does this hatred come from? 'Aferim!', A black and white western from Romania In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 12, 2015.
- ↑ Funding decisions of April 2014 by the Film- und Medienstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen In: Film- und Medienstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, April 2014.
- ↑ a b A. O. Scott: Review: 'Aferim!' Traverses an Unforgiving Romania in the 1800s In: The New York Times, January 21, 2016.
- ↑ Aferim! In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ↑ Top 100 Movies of 2016 In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ↑ Eliza Berman: These Movies Were All Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes in 2016 In: time.com, December 21, 2016.
- ↑ Berlinale 2015. Competition - Aferim! ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: rbb-online.de, February 11, 2016.
- ↑ 'Aferim!': Berlin Review. Romanian director Radu Jude addresses the prickly subject of gypsy slavery with his third feature, a western-style historical drama which won the Best Director prize in Berlin In: The Hollywood Reporter, February 11, 2015.
- ↑ Jay Weissberg: Film Review: 'Aferim!' In: Variety, February 11, 2015.
- ↑ Felix Zwinzscher: When slavery was still quite normal in Europe In: DIE WELT, February 12, 2015.
- ↑ People's Choice Award 2016 In: europeanfilmawards.eu. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
