In The News
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Tickets are now on sale
March 14, 2023
Tickets are now on sale for the 17th edition of Making Waves! Make sure you reserve your spot for this celebration of contemporary Romanian cinema, running March 30 – April 2 at Metrograph, Roxy Cinema New York and DCTV's Firehouse Cinema! Festival supporters enjoy a series of complimentary tickets.

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New partnerships
March 1, 2023
For the 17th edition, Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema launches new partnerships with Metrograph, Roxy Cinema New York and DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema, returning to its roots in downtown New York, where the festival was launched in 2006 at Tribeca Cinemas.

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Mark Your Calendars for MW17
March 1, 2023
From March 30-April 2, 2023, Metrograph, Roxy Cinema New York and DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema will co-present a surprising selection of recent Romanian productions. Lucian Pintilie’s iconic THE OAK, in a new 4K digital restoration, will be released at Film Forum from April 28-May 4.

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Lucian Pintilie’s THE OAK in release
December 23, 2022
We are excited to announce that Lucian Pintilie’s iconic THE OAK (BALANȚA), now in a new 4K digital restoration, will be released at Film Forum from April 28 – May 4, 2023, with legendary actress Maia Morgenstern in person for select screenings. Part of the 17th Making Waves.

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Making Waves returns in-person March 2023 to NYC cinemas
November 17, 2022
We are happy to announce that the 17th edition of Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema will return to in-person screenings in the second half of March 2023, in a network of New York City venues (tba).

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Want to stay in the loop?
April 1, 2022
Do you want to be informed about our next endeavours? Subscribe to our newsletter via Mailchimp or follow us on Facebook or Instagram. We will keep you informed, not spammed.

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Film critic Jay Weissberg at Salon Insula 42
March 28, 2022
On March 26, Making Waves #16 ONLINE presented a special event, in conjuction with the Insula 42 salon series. Film critic Jay Weissberg joined Corina Șuteu and Mihai Chirilov for a live conversation on the 16th Making Waves' lineup, the evolution of Romanian cinema, and much more.

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Richard Peña @ Salon Insula 42: 15 years later
February 12, 2021
On the occasion of the 15th edition of Making Waves, Salon Insula 42 is inviting you to an "essential conversation" with Richard Peña, professor of Film and Media Studies at Columbia University and one of the most dedicated champions of Romanian film in the U.S., on 15 years and more of Romanian film excellency.

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MW17: New Productions
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The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters
March 3, 2023
U.S. Avant-Premiere. Q&A with Dana Bunescu on March 30. Romania’s most esteemed editor and sound designer Bunescu and expert anthropologist Tesar join forces in chronicling the fascinating universe of the traditional Roma community called ‘cortorari’ and their convoluted marriage rituals. The wedding alliance revolves around the family heirloom, the eponymous silver cup serving as clan emblem and status symbol. Although the bride’s family ought to pay a cash dowry to the groom’s parents, there’s a catch: the bride’s father gets to keep the groom’s chalice until the young couple succeeds in having a baby boy. What follows is the engaging endeavor of one such couple to birth a son, complete with the simmering feud between their families, in this raw and revealing documentary about how generations old customs may shape new destinies.

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R.M.N.
March 3, 2023
A few days before Christmas, a man returns to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village to renew contact with the son he had left behind while working in Germany. There, as he tries to become more involved in the boy's education, the peace is cut short when a local company run by his ex-lover decides to recruit foreign workers. Frustrations, conflicts and passions rise to the surface once again, breaking through the community's thin veneer of apparent calm and understanding. Elegantly structured and almost Faulknerian in scope, Mungiu’s latest entry in his signature brand of moral thrillers is a non-judgmental analysis of the driving forces of human behavior when confronted with the unknown, featuring an impressive 17-minute long take that crystalizes the simmering tension all throughout. An IFC Films Release.

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You Are Ceaușescu to Me
March 3, 2023
Despite its intriguing title, this multi-layered oddity is less about the titular dictator’s criminal ruling, and more about his early years as an aspiring communist, as reenacted by a bunch of non-professional millennials who were picked for the cast in a vacant warehouse. Aged between 15 and 22 and coming from different backgrounds, the ‘actors’ enter the game head-on bearing no preconceived ideas of the dictatorship, and the more they get in character, the more they reveal about themselves during the shooting breaks. Shot in striking black and white, this bold and playful meta-film operating somewhere in the experimental space between fiction and documentary creates a collective portrait of a young generation that seems lost in the shades of grey of an ever-changing world.

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The Goat and Her Three Kids
March 3, 2023
New York Premiere. Secluded from the world in 19th century rural Romania, a widow and mother of three must defend what’s left of her family at all costs from an old family friend turned foe. Popularized by the Romanian curriculum and included in primers, Ion Creangă’s story from 1875 has endured as one of the best-known local folk tales, echoing Brothers Grimm’s "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats," but much darker and devoid of happy end. This faithful screen adaptation captures the true nature of the famed bedtime story and goes beyond the bucolic setting and its fable-like appearance, delivering a brutal revenge thriller that’s bound for cult status and Halloween celebrations. Featuring Maia Morgenstern of Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ" fame, it unexpectedly became a smashing box-office hit.

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To the North
March 3, 2023
U.S. Premiere. During his shift on a transatlantic ship’s deck, a religious Filipino sailor (Soliman Cruz, in a standout role) discovers a Romanian stowaway hidden between containers and decides to keep him safe from being thrown overboard by the Taiwanese officers running the vessel. A dangerous cat and mouse game begins as, little by little, his crew and friends, and even God itself turn their back on this Good Samaritan, closing the net tight and leaving him to face his cruel destiny alone. Loosely based on the 1996 Maersk Dubai incident and showing impressive camerawork and soundscape that add to the oppressive and heightened mood of this slow burn thriller, Mincan’s taut debut about moral choices takes an act of kindness and throws it into the Devil’s hands, with devastating consequences.

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Immaculate
March 3, 2023
Monica Stan in person. When young Daria enters rehab to kick the drug habit her first love left her with, her perceived innocence saves her from the sexual advances of the mostly male junkies inside and gains her their protection. Suddenly thrown into the spotlight and enjoying the attention, the girl soon finds out that kind gestures can turn into aggression in the blink of an eye and that special treatment comes at a great price. Stemming from the director’s own experience and shot in a tight format that favors white, ‘immaculate’ compositions, it’s a striking and at times disturbing exercise in moral ambiguity, revealing the numerous shades of grey of the recovery process in overcoming addiction. Winner of the debut prize in Venice, it was the Romanian submission at the Academy Awards in the Best International Film category.

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Men of Deeds
March 3, 2023
U.S. Premiere. Q&A with Paul Negoescu and DP Ana Drăghici. A middle-aged police chief goes on with his job and modest life in a small town, dreaming of having an orchard, managing regular drunken conflicts at the local bar and largely ignoring the mayor’s questionable deeds and the dubious things that happen in the village. But when a man is murdered, he jumps to the other extreme, trying to be what he has never been before: the justice seeker who arrests everyone guilty. Fresh from the U.S. success with his indie hit ‘Two Lottery Tickets’, director Negoescu goes into Twin Peaks-like territory and flexes his Coen Brothers’ muscles for what Variety deservedly called “an exceedingly mordant comedy that gradually bleeds out to tragedy”. Expect a hilarious Mexican standoff and one of the best performances in the new Romanian cinema. A Dekanalog Release.

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MW17: A Restored Classic in Release
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Past Editions
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16th Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema
November 1, 2021
March 25-31, 2022 | ONLINE IN THE U.S.
December 7-9, 2021 | Jacob Burns Film Center

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15th Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema
February 5, 2021
Feb 18-24, 2021 | ONLINE IN THE U.S.
Co-presented with the Jacob Burns Film Center

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14th Making Waves: “The Romanians” Retrospective
September 20, 2019
Nov 2019 - Mar 2020 @ Film Forum & U.S. Tour
May 2020 - 2021: ONLINE ON DEMAND

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14th Making Waves: New Releases
June 17, 2020
Dec 5-10, 2019
@ Jacob Burns Film Center

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13th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Nov 26-Dec 5, 2018
@ BAM & Jacob Burns Film Center

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12th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Nov 30-Dec 7, 2017
@ BAMcinématek & Jacob Burns Film Center

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11th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Dec 1-8, 2016
@ Jacob Burns Film Center

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10th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Dec 2-8, 2015
@ Film Society of Lincoln Center & Jacob Burns Film Center

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9th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Dec 4-10, 2014
@ Film Society of Lincoln Center & Jacob Burns Film Center

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8th Making Waves
September 26, 2019
Nov 29 - Dec 10, 2013
@ Film Society of Lincoln Center & Jacob Burns Film Center

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7th Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema
September 26, 2019
Nov 29 - Dec 5, 2012
@ Film Society of Lincoln Center

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Past Editions 2006 – 2011
September 26, 2019
Take a stroll down memory lane. MAKING WAVES: New Romanian Cinema continues, in a new configuration, the Romanian Film Festival in NYC, initiated in 2006 and chaired by reputed cultural entrepreneur and cultural policy expert and trainer Corina Suteu, under the artistic direction of Mihai Chirilov.

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Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema is the longstanding Romanian Film Festival in New York. Initiated and presented by Film ETC Association, in partnership with leading U.S. organizations, including the Jacob Burns Film Center (since 2013), Film Forum (since 2109), BAM (since 2017), or the Film Society of Lincoln Center (2011-2015).

MakingWaves © 2012-2022

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