Film Archive

Mariţa

East of the West - Competition 2017 / Mariţa / Romania 2017

Thirty-year-old Costi decides to spend a few days with his family. His parents have long since divorced, but Costi thinks it would be a great idea to arrange a surprise reunion, and he persuades his father to travel with him to meet up with his mother and siblings. Taking the old family car, affectionately known as Mariţa, they head out on a journey that will ultimately help to heal past wounds and allow Costi to finally understand not only his parents, but also himself.

Synopsis

After an argument with his girlfriend, 30-year-old Costi decides to spend a few days with his family in a rented mountain chalet. On the spur of the moment he asks his father Sandu to come with him to meet up with the wife and children he has neglected for years due to his lively interest in life and other women. It doesn’t take long to persuade Sandu to tag along, and the men set off from Transylvania heading for Moldavia in the old family car, affectionately known as Mariţa. It’s not just the car, which is filled with all kinds of shared memories, but also their new-found closeness, that leads both men to rekindle long forgotten mutual experiences. Their encounter with the rest of the family renders their common past all the more vivid. Sandu’s colourful anecdotes and enchanting commentaries connect the family for a single evening and might even help to heal distant wounds. The spontaneous dialogues in this promising debut from Cristi Iftime tell the story of a group of individuals who, after so many years, rediscover the true meaning of family.

Anna Kořínek

About the film

100 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Cristi Iftime / Screenplay Anca Buja, Cristi Iftime / Dir. of Photography Lucian Ciobanu / Editor Dragoş Apetri / Art Director Malina Ionescu / Producer Ada Solomon / Production Hi Film Production SRL / Coproduction deFILM / Cast Alexandru Potocean, Adrian Titieni, Lucian Iftime, Lorena Zăbrăuţanu, Nicoleta Hancu, Dan Chiorean, Victoria Cocias, Bogdan Dumitrache / Contact Hi Film Production SRL

About the director

Cristi Iftime (b. 1979, Iaşi, Romania) is a Romanian director, screenwriter and editor. He initially studied philosophy and worked as a photographer before moving on to film and graduating in direction from the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC) in Bucharest. He has directed several short features and documentaries. His bachelor’s degree film 15 July (15 iulie, 2011) began its festival circuit at the Berlinale and went on to play at festival theatres all over the world, winning awards along the way. This triumph led to the making of his master’s degree film The Camp in Răzoare (Tabăra din Răzoare, 2012), which was selected for Cannes’ Cinéfondation, the section devoted to student films; the work also appeared on the programme of many other festivals. Mariţa (2017) is his feature film debut. He is currently putting together his second feature while also working on two independent shorts.