Romanian director and screenwriter Cristi Puiu is the first known laureate of one of the honorary awards that will be presented at the 30th edition of the oldest and largest Slovak film festival.
Cristi Puiu (3 April 1967) is considered the father of the Romanian new age of cinema, characterised by its formally austere social-critical style. Already during his studies in Geneva, he made short films. He made his debut in 2001 with Marfa si Banii (Goods or Money), which premiered at Cannes. His second and internationally best known film Moartea domnului Lăzărescu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu – 2005), set in the authentic environment of a hospital in Bucharest, won awards not only at Cannes but also at festivals in Chicago, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Tallinn, Haugesand, Norway, as well as at the Bratislava IFF.
His other four feature films have been screened in the competition sections of the most prestigious festivals, including Cannes and Berlin. He not only wrote the screenplay for Aurora (2010), but also starred in it. Sieranevada (2016) and Malmkrog (2020) were screened in the non-competitive sections of Art Film in Košice. Sieranevada got the main award of the Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. Malmkrog was also the opening film of the Berlin Film Festival. The latest enrichment to his filmography is the comedy drama MMXX (2023), screened at festivals in San Sebastian, Thessaloniki, Warsaw and Trieste.
“Cristi Puiu is one of the most appreciated film directors. I remember the first time I saw his film The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,” recalls Martin Palúch, the festival’s artistic director, adding: “It was like a revelation. Particularly for the use of observational documentary techniques in a feature film. The camera is usually hand-held, mobile, unrestricted and liberated. Through observation, he enters deeply into the inner world of the characters and records the reality of their lives. Long shots in subtle detail reveal everyday things, captured in absolute duration and spatial anchoring. The result is a disturbingly realistic reading of the stories that refer to socio-political happenings in Romania.”
Cristi Puiu will be a guest to Art Film at the opening ceremony and will receive the honorary prize – the Golden Camera – as the first ever Romanian filmmaker in the history of the festival. His programme in Košice will include not only the introduction of his own films but also a masterclass of his work and the art of filmmaking for his fans.
The 30th anniversary edition of MMF Art Film will take place thanks to the support of:
Organiser: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.;
Co-organizers: City of Košice, K13 – Košice cultural centers, ART FILM FEST, n.o., LGM, s.r.o., FORLIVE;
The festival is financially supported by: Audiovisual Fund
The festival is co-financed by the Košice self-governing region from the Terra Incognita program;
Major advertising partner: Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava;
Main advertising partners: Východoslovenská energetika, CODES Brand House;
Automotive partner: PORSCHE;
Advertising partners: AVA-stav, Jadrová a vyraďovacia spoločnosť, a.s., Best Press, U. S. Steel Košice, Kino Úsmev;
Official contractors: NOV, ZEBRA, DKC Veritas, Východoslovenské múzeum v Košiciach, BARZZUZ;
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia;
Media partners: Cinema, JOJ 24, Film Europe, Rádio KOŠICE, TELKE, Korzár, Slovenka, Forbes, SITA, TASR, Košice City Guide, Film.sk, Visit Košice;
Partners: Východoslovenská vodárenská spoločnosť, JOJ Cinema, ARICOMA, TelekomCLOUD, DELTA OnLine;
Financial awards partners: CANON, Filmarina;
