Tales From The Golden Age

Release date: 30 October 2009

Distribution: Trinity

Directed by: Cristian Mungiu (Palme d’ Or Winner, Cannes 2007), Ioana Uricaru, Hanno Höffer, Constantin Popescu

Starring:

The Legend of the Official Visit - Alexandru Potocean, Teo Corban, Emanuel Pirvu

The Legend of the Official Photographer - Avram Birău, Paul Dunca, Viorel Comănici

The Legend of the Chicken Driver - Vlad Ivanov, Tania Popa, Liliana Mocanu

The Legend of the Greedy Policeman - Ion Sapdaru, Virginia Mirea, Gabriel Spahiu

The Legend of the Air Sellers -

Diana Cavallioti, Radu Iacoban

2009 marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the momentous events which unfolded across Eastern Europe as people took to the streets in public uprising and the resulting revolts which broke down the Communist regimes, including Ceausescu’s much feared dictatorship. The final 15 years of the Ceausescu regime were the worst in Romania's history. Nonetheless, the propaganda machine of that time referred without fail to that period as “the golden age”...

TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE focuses on day-to-day life under the dictatorship to warm and often hilarious effect. Written by Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS), the portmanteau of stories depict the most popular urban myths of the period. Consistently strong, the cumulative effect of these urban legends at once comic, bizarre, poignant and surprising offer a surreal portrait of life in Romania in the 1980s where undertones of fear, corruption and imprisonment were never far away from the humour and spirit which kept people alive.

Bookended by Communist anthems and credits featuring footage of various party rallies, the film doesn’t criticise the lunacy of the regime, rather it takes an affectionate, almost nostalgic look at the men, women and children who had to survive it.

TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE showcases the hottest talents from the ‘Romanian New Wave’ and premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The films recapture the mood of a nation fighting for its voice, in an era during which food was more important than money, freedom more important than love and survival more important than principles.

Back 14.08.2009.