The First Day: Horatiu Malaele's Moving Feature, Silent Wedding

The 6th edition debuted with the main feature film, Silent Wedding (Nunta Muta), directed by Horatiu Malaele. The film was introduced by veteran director Jack Gold, one of the members of the British Realist film tradition.

Prior to the feature film, the Ratiu Foundation presented the absolute premiere of ‘Legacy’, a short documentary film charting the activity of the Ratiu Foundation. This film was directed by Laurentiu Garofeanu, and scripted by author Mike Phillips.

Next, the audience was mesmerised by the feature presentation of Silent Wedding. We all laughed and cried at this deeply moving tragicomedy that combines fantastic, realist and dreamy elements in a powerful melange. Silent Wedding has been inspired by real events in the North of Romania during the Stalinist period. The film chronicles the story of a village inadvertently and tragically caught in the midst of history. Despite the villagers' attempt to continue their life as they know it, the result is predictable when their way of life comes into conflict with the Russian occupying forces. Theirs is a heroism without heroes - people that instinctively want to preserve meaning in front of a juggernaut they fail to understand.


Following the presentation of the film, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to the director, Horatiu Malaele, and legendary actor Victor Rebengiuc. We learned that this was Malaele's first feature film (he is well known in Romania as an exceptional theatre actor). He shared some of his experiences making the movie, including how he blended a real story with memories of his childhood to produce Silent Wedding. When asked what motivated him to do the film, he humbly replied that he felt that there was a story to be told, and no other director had the courage to approach it.


Malaele shared some of his witty insights with the audience. He remarkably suggested that "Romanians are a tragic people with plenty of humour". He felt that his feature came in the absurd tradition that Romania is known for (with Ionesco, Cioran and the Dadaist movement being some of the country's best exports). Malaele also shared some of his experience making the film; remarkably, the film ran into budget problems that resulted in the actors - a true who's who of Romanian finest actors - accepting half pay and doing it for the sake of the film alone. A good example of this type of commitment was Victor Rebengiuc, who plays a minor, albeit pivotal, role in the film.

Malaele confessed that his film encountered a lot of criticism in Romania. Today, Romanian cinema is known for its gritty realism and minimalist approach (the so-called Romanian New Wave), and this movie is a slight step away from that. Yet there is room for a lot of genres in the expanding Romanian cinema, and, as Malaele pointed out, dreams are an important side of our culture. Creating, as Malaele plastically puts it, "white doves with a digestive tract" is a challenge and an art.

For more pictures of the event (including the reception afterwards at the Ratiu Foundation, please go to the Gallery section at the Romanian Cultural Centre.