Independent producers in the spotlight in Constanta
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For the third summer in a row, the Independent Producers’ International Film Festival (IPIFF) is heating up the Romanian Black Sea town of Constanta. The festival kicks off today and runs through July 20.
IPIFF has grown this year, with the already established Production Training held by David Pope’s New Producers’ Alliance, now with a dual structure that covers both student and first-time producers and experienced film producers.
There will be an intriguing race for the Black Sea Trophy, with award-winning features La Vie en Rose, Golden Door, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men and My Blueberry Nights competing with local flicks such as Nae Caranfil’s Rest Is Silence and veteran Sergiu Nicolaescu’s soapy Survivor.
The Film School competition will be just as tough, with the best Romanian student shorts facing Bulgarian, Slovenian and German shorts screened in an eclectic selection of 64 films.
Other sections of the IPIFF include competitions for short and feature documentaries and a recap of the local feature premieres in the Romanian Film Panorama. There will also be Gala screenings of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse, Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone, Gabriel Dorobanţu’s Elevator, Anca Damian’s Crossing Dates and Radu Gabrea’s Romania, Romania II.
“Our festival is based on tolerance and respect”, says IPIFF General Producer Dinu Tanase, president of the Union of Romanian Film and Audiovisual Producers, the main organizer of the event that is financially supported by the Romanian Film Centre and the Constanta County Council. “IPIFF is oriented towards creating opportunities for Romanian and foreign professionals to meet and discuss in an informal context”, adds Tanase, with a promise that IPIFF organizers have left behind last year’s clumsiness.
Toma Peiu