Monday, May 28, 2007

PALME D'OR: "4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS" BY CRISTIAN MUNGIU


Jane Fonda awarded the Palme d'Or of this 60th Cannes Festival to Cristian Mungiu for 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days.
During the closing Ceremony, Cristian Mungui declared: “It seems like a fairy tale. One year ago we didn’t have any idea about this project and some six months ago, we didn’t have any money to make it and finally, we were just hoping to be in Cannes in any kind of competition. So I just want to thank very much the Jury and I want to thank very much the people from the Festival for allowing us into Competition to start with, because it really made all the difference for us. The kind of attention that we got here all along the Festival, this story that we believe in so much, is going to reach lots of people now. I also hope that this award that I’m getting now is going to be of good use for small filmmakers in small countries everywhere, because it looks like you don’t necessarily need a big budget and a lot of stars to have your story heard.”
At the press conference for the winners, Cristian Mungiu talked about what this means to Romanian filmmakers: “I honestly think this is just about the best event that happened to a wave of Romanian cinema that manifested itself in the last years already. I’m very happy to thank my colleagues, Romanian filmmakers. Without their successes in the past years, I couldn’t have been here. (…) This really gives us a sort of confidence. It’s the ultimate recognition for a filmmaker. And it gives us the strength to go on with other good stories." Photo Copyright AFP

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