Romanian director Cristian Mungiu praises better education to change future

Record ID: 102704

  • Title: Romanian director Cristian Mungiu praises better education to change future
  • Date: 20th May 2016
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 20, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, MARIA DRAGUS, SAYING: "The European feeling you know, that feeling of importance of telling a story and really changing not only the own country which is also our film's importance but also like telling other countries about how the situation is and really trying to tell universal stories that can be related to anywhere. And in that sense yes I think that the cinema in kind of 'Europeanising' in a way in Europe right now, which I think is great."
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2016 19:26
  • Keywords: Cannes Film Festival Cristian Mungiu Bacalaureat Graduation Maria Dragus
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
  • City: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA0084IM4DOT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's latest film 'Bacalaureat', which explores how far parents could go to do what they consider the best for their children, is a call for better education to give the next generation a better future, he said on Friday (May 20).
    'Bacalaureat' follows the story of Romeo Aldea (Adrian Titieni) a father keen to get his daughter Eliza (Maria Dragus) into college in the UK, but she needs to pass her 'bacalaureat' first, her final exam after high school. Blinded by the fact he wants her to have a better life abroad, Romeo falls into a spiral of bribery and corruption - opposite to the values he taught his daughter.
    Mungiu said a lot of progress has been made since the 1989 revolution in Romania but that the population felt the situation in the country was not improving fast enough.
    "How would we expect the young generation to behave differently than how we behaved unless we change something in their education? So if I look about Romania society nowadays I think that people are a little bit disappointed, I see a lot of depressed people around us and I wonder why. And I think it comes from the hopes that we had a while ago about society. I don't think that the rhythm of the changes matches our expectations," he told Reuters Television.
    Asked if he thought cinema could help change society he said he believed it's education that plays the biggest role - as long as it's clear what changes are wanted.
    Mungiu previously won the Palme d'Or in 2007 for his film '4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days' and his 2012 film 'Beyond the Hills' won Best Screenplay and Best Actress. He said that what was so special about the Cannes festival was that it gathered films that would make audiences think and ask questions, unlike "feel-good movies".
    "If you want to go to watch a feel-good movie you can go and watch it Friday evening in a multiplex, it doesn't need Cannes to be promoted as a film, it's just part of the mainstream cinema who will try not to make people worry about life any longer. But we belong to a tradition of realism in which we use cinema as an art to speak about life and when you speak about life you will speak about the aspects of life which you consider that, I don't know, need some improvement," he said.
    German actress Maria Dragus said she felt European films had something special to bring to the industry.
    "The European feeling you know, that feeling of importance of telling a story and really changing not only the own country which is also our film's importance but also like telling other countries about how the situation is and really trying to tell universal stories that can be related to anywhere. And in that sense yes I think that the cinema in kind of 'Europeanising' in a way in Europe right now, which I think is great," she said.
    The film premiered in Cannes on Thursday and received a warm welcome by the audience and the media.
    "Oh it was so amazing because, you know, everyone was standing up and we got a standing ovation for like ten minutes and everyone was clapping like crazy and I couldn't believe it and I saw my parents in the audience just across and I cried. I couldn't help myself but cry because it was so emotional and so touching that everyone was so full of appreciation for our work," Dragus said.
    The winners of this year's Cannes Film Festival will be announced at a ceremony Sunday evening.
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