MAKING WAVES returned for its special 10th anniversary edition from December 2-7, 2015 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and from 3-8 at the Jacob Burns Film Center, featuring a cross section of narrative features, documentaries, and shorts.

Titles fresh from Cannes and Berlin led the slate of features: Corneliu Porumboiu’s crazy fairy tale, The Treasure; Romania’s unorthodox answer to 12 Years a Slave, Radu Jude’s Aferim!; Radu Muntean’s subtle morality play, One Floor Below; and Why Me?, the Sidney Lumet-esque political thriller by Tudor Giurgiu, based on outrageous real events.

Another highlight was a special tribute screening of Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005), commemorating the 10th anniversary of MAKING WAVES. A seminal title of the Romanian New Wave, this dark comedy was presented at the first edition back in 2006 and took American critics by storm, helping to establish Romania as a major player in the contemporary landscape of international art cinema.

The series featured panels, special guests, and a continuation of last year’s Creative Freedom Through Cinema program, examining the relationship between art and politics in Eastern Europe and spotlighting work from Georgia and the Republic of Moldova.

The raw survival documentary Toto and His Sisters by Alexander Nanau, a selection of short films (including the newest from Puiu and Ramona, the noir revenge tale that won a prize in Cannes), and a tribute to one of the greatest Romanian filmmakers, Mircea Daneliuc – whose work inspired the Romanian New Wave – completed this exciting lineup.