Romanian and Polish films honoured at Chicago Film Festival

Sieranevada won the prestiged Gold Hugo for Best Film in the international feature competition at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival awards ceremony last Friday.

The latest feature by Romanian auteur Cristi Puiu, best known for his darkly comic debut The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, was not the only Romanian film in the spotlight. Graduation by Cristian Mungui, who was awarded Best Director at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, won the Silver Plaque for Best Screenplay, while its lead Adrian Titieni walked away with the Silver Hugo for Best Actor.

Another New East film to share the glory on the night was a debut feature from young Polish director Jan P Matuszynski entitled The Last Family, which won the Silver Plaque for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Set in a Soviet-era high rise apartment in Warsaw, the film follows the true story of a Polish surrealist painter Zdzislaw Beksinski who paints apocalyptic and nightmarish canvases.