The Romanian Film Festival Seattle returns Nov 11-27

Announcing the 9th Edition of ROMANIAN FILM FESTIVAL SEATTLE, "Homelands,” with in-person events in Seattle, WA & Phoenix, AZ + films and events streaming online worldwide November 11-27, through Northwest Film Forum’s online platform.

Homelands reflects on this year’s current events, while celebrating the power of film to map out new meanings into a world where people have been displaced by wars, economic crises, political instability, and natural disasters. As Daniel Ursache’s poster above illustrates: movies remain, year after year, our main path and answer, when everything else seems out of place.

After two successful virtual editions in 2020 and 2021, the festival will continue to showcase the best of the newest film productions from Romania and Europe in a hybrid program, promoting outstanding directors, both established and up-and-coming. It will also continue its partnerships with Northwest Film Forum, Romanian Film Fest Arizona, and sister-organizations ARCS Arizona and ARCS Detroit. The Romanian Film Festival Arizona will have in-person screenings November 19-20 at Majestic Tempe 7 in Tempe, AZ.

Cannes-awarded “Metronom,” directed by Alexandru Belc, is the festival’s Opening Night selection. This stunning drama is set in Bucharest 1972, and follows 17-year-old Ana, who dreams of love and freedom. One night, while partying with her friends, they decide to send a letter to Metronom, the musical program which Radio Free Europe broadcasts clandestinely in Romania. It is then that the Securitate, Ceaușescu’s secret police, arrives. A virtual Q&A with some of the film’s stars will follow the screening.

Other highlights include environmental thriller “Wood,” which takes us across three continents as it tracks down illegal logging operations, co-directed by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst, and Ebba Sinzinger; “Ukrainian Sheriffs,” a timely tragicomic portrait of a two-man team of sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village disturbed by everyday incidents and political developments, directed by Roman Bondarchuk; and “The Certainty of Probabilities,” directed by Raluca Durbacă, which is comprised entirely of rare archival footage from 1968, one of the most optimistic and prosperous years in the history of socialist Romania. This film surveys the efforts undertaken by the state in order to ensure social stability in a society claiming to have quashed all exploitative and alienating labor relations. Filmmakers from all three films will join the festival audience via virtual Q&As.

This year's shorts program includes two creations from Romanian New Wave master Radu Jude whose versatility is forever surprising: Semiotic Plastic (2021), which explores what it looks like when human existence, from birth to old age, is reenacted by toys; and The Marshal's Two Executions (2018), an examination of the demise of Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania's right-wing leader during World War II.

Get ready to be amazed by a stellar film selection exploring new Romanian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and European productions.

Stay tuned for the full line-up of films and events, coming soon!