“Aferim!” by Radu Jude sweeps the board at 2016 Gopo awards

“Aferim!” by Radu Jude won the Gopo award for the best feature film on Monday during the Gopo Awards Gala. Gopo are the Romanian film industry awards.

Over 130 movies were racing for the Gopo 2016 nominations, with 84 of them being released in theatres last year: 17 feature films, 12 documentary films and 55 short films.

The best director award also went to Radu Jude for “Aferim!”. Film’s producer Ada Solomon was the one to receive the statuettes.

“I want to thank again those who voted in the Gopo Awards competition because I believe it is important for people to vote and praise the things our colleagues do,” said Ada Solomon.

Also nominated for the best feature film awards were “Bucuresti nonstop” (24/7 Bucharest), directed by Dan Chisu; “Comoara” (The Treasure), directed by Corneliu Porumboiu; “De ce eu?” (Why Me?), directed by Tudor Giurgiu, and “Un etaj mai jos” (One Floor Below), directed by Radu Muntean.

Dan Chisu for “Bucuresti nonstop” (24/7 Bucharest); Tudor Giurgiu for “De ce eu?” (Why Me?); Radu Muntean for “Un etaj mai jos” (One Floor Below) and Corneliu Porumboiu for “Comoara” (The Treasure) were competing for the best director award as well.

“Aferim!” almost swept the board as it also won the Gopo awards for best lead male actor (Teodor Corban); best supporting male actor (Alexandru Dabija); best supporting actress (Mihaela Sirbu); best screenplay (Radu Jude, Florin Lazarescu); best cinematography (Marius Panduru); best montage (Catalin Cristutiu); best sound editing (Momchil Bozhkov, Dana Lucretia Bunescu, Cristinel Sirli); best settings (Augustina Stanciu); best costume design (Dana Paparuz); best makeup and best hair style (Petya Simeonova, Bianca Boeroiu, Domnica Bodogan), along with the Public’s Award and the Romanian Society Prize presented by the Romanian Society of Cinematographers (RSC).

“Aferim!” feature film was Romania’s proposal for Oscar 2016 at “the best foreign language film other than English” category.

Jude’s production, which won the Silver Bear for Best Director at 65th edition of the Berlin Film Festival this year, is a historic film whose action takes place in Walachia at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The film presents a land tenant, played by actor Teodor Corban, accompanied by his son (actor Michael Comanoiu) both looking for a fugitive gypsy slave (actor Toma Cuzin).

Titled after an old Turkish word meaning “bravo!”, the story takes place in the mountainous southern region of Wallachia in 1835, a time when Romania was still caught in the imperial crossfire between Turkey, Russia and Austria. Teodor Corban stars as Costandin, a boisterous police constable employed as a bounty hunter by local nobleman Boyar Iordache Cindescu (Alexandru Dabija) to recapture Carfin (Cuzin Toma), a fugitive gypsy slave who made a potentially deadly error by giving in to the sexual demands of his master’s wife Sultana (Mihalea Sirbu), actmedia.eu reports.
Scouring the majestic mountain landscape on horseback with his callow teenage son Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu) acting as his deputy, Costandin recalls John Wayne in The Searchers, only with the racist and sexist subtext of John Ford’s iconic western writ large. He also loves the sound of his own voice, forever sharing his pompous wisdom and salty humor with anyone who will listen. He has a special fondness for bawdy rhymes, crude aphorisms and bitter curses. “May he live three more days, counting yesterday” he sneers after a fractious encounter on the road.
Costandin and Ionita apprehend Carfin, picking up another runaway gypsy slave in the process, a skinny little boy called Tintiric (Alberto Dinache). As they journey home, father and son celebrate by sharing the services of a prostitute at a rowdy inn (“don’t tell your mother”). But on learning that their prisoner faces punishment for sexually humiliating his master, Ionita raises ethical questions about returning him. As a compromise, both agree to ask the nobleman for leniency. However, Cindescu disdainfully swats away their pleas before personally enforcing his brutal revenge.

In 2015, “Closer to the Moon” by Nae Caranfil won three trophies at the Gopo Awards: for the best film, for the best director and for the best screen play.