Porumboiu's Film "Happened or Not?" Wins at Cannes

The full-length movie of Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu "Happened or Not?", screened for the first time on Wednesday under the auspices of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival section "Quinzaine des réalisateurs", won the public and the film critics over.

Placing the 1989 Revolution as the background for his action, the Romanian film-maker succeeds a brilliantly spontaneous comedy that plays with clever dialogues, the unpredictable reactions of the characters and ingenious interventions that catch the watcher in a joyful screenplay.

At the end of the projection, the public burst for at least five minutes into enthusiastic applause for the author who, as writes Liberation in a eulogizing column published on Thursday, "gave them a hearty laugh."

Such a triumph, which was also witnessed by the chairmen of the Camera d'Or jury, the Dardenne brothers, gives us good reason to think that the film should fittingly run for the award this year, challenging the tough competition represented by no less than 27 full-length film debuts. After Cristi Puiu's winning the award at the "Un certain regard" section last year for "The Death of Mr Lazarescu," such a distinction would be yet another argument for the value of the new wave of Romanian film-makers.

Corneliu Porumboiu was born in 1975 in Vaslui (north-east from Bucharest, in eastern Romania). A well-known film director and script writer, he made some other films, like "Liviu's Dream" in 2004, "Trip to the City" in 2003 and does not participate in the Cannes contest for the first time. In 2004 he won the second prize at the Cinéfondation section with his student short film "Trip to the City" and was selected in 2005 for the Résidence du Festival, a cinematographic project development programme that brought him almost a half-year stay in France.

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