Corina Radu: Bar de Zi and other stories

My story has no importance, there is nothing special about me, says one of the characters in this fine social story set in Sibiu, Romania. The filmmakers have got the permission to film a group of citizens, who all come to the same bar, are middle-aged and old people, who are as different as the rest of us and who have got their scars in life from too much drinking and poverty and consequently, for some of them, illness, death in the families and other tough marks to carry around.

The film is social in a classical way, but with small playful montage sequences and a well chosen music that includes great nostalgic bar tunes from England. You need to lighten up a film like that and the director succeeds to get in to their homes and bedrooms, put in great anecdotes and pocket philosophical remarks. It creates a light non-sentimental atmosphere to accompany the curious observational camera.

The film was made as part of an international workshop, Aristoteles, financed by MEDIA Programme of the EU, the tv-station Arte and (in this case) TVRomania. Well done, Corina Radu confirms that a lot of good happens with Romanian film right now.

Romania, 2007, 57 mins.

www.aworkshop.org
http://www.astrafilm.ro/Awards%202007.htm#bar
corinaradu7@yahoo.com

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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