Romanian New Wave

Romanian film director and screenwriter Radu Jude will be honoured at the La Rochelle Cinema (FEMA)Festival, which will take place June 25-July 4. At the 49th edition of the event in France, Jude will be honoured alongside French filmmaker Xavier Beauvois, Lebanese filmmakers Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, and French composer Gabriel Yared.

For six years in a row at the Sofia Film Festival we have the honor and pleasure of presenting the special FIPRESCI Platinum 90 Award, provided by the International Federation of Film Critics.

The first film selected, 'Comoara' ('The Treasure') is directed by director Corneliu Porumboiu, who in 2006 won Cannes' Golden Camera prize for best first film with his '12:08 East of Bucharest' feature.

The movie stars both professional and amateur actors, focusing on two men who have surprising adventures as they attempt to find treasure.

Radu Jude won the award for his historical drama "Aferim!", the story of the hunt for a runaway Roma slave in the 19th century.

The film highlights the cruelty and deep-rooted prejudices that were rife at the time, when people from Romania's Roma minority were kept as slaves by monasteries and local overlords.