25/02/2011

Paul Negoescu, whose shorts Derby, Renovation and Late were selected respectively in the Berlinale Shorts section in 2008, 2009 and 2010, is preparing his feature debut 365 de Revelioane (“365 New Year's Eves”). Negoescu wrote the script with director-screenwriter Vlad Trandafir and plans to shoot the film over a few weeks in December of this year and January 2012.

The film centers on a 30-year-old man who splits with his girlfriend on the last day of the year and starts looking for a former love, convinced she's actually “the one.” Although it has the makings of a romantic comedy, Negoescu prefers to consider his first feature a drama. He got the idea for 365 New Year's Eves a few years ago, one Halloween night when hours of wild partying in several Bucharest clubs made him realize something in him was forever lost.

The two hour-long film will need a budget of approximately €600,000. Produced by HiFilm, which funded some of the director's shorts, the project is currently awaiting funding from the National Film Center, which will announce 2011 grants at the end of March. As much as 40% of the budget could come from the state.

The project already has a European co-producer, Germany's Filmallee, which has also co-produced Renovation. The director will soon start pitching the project to other production companies in Europe.

If 365 New Year's Eves gets a 2012 domestic release as planned, Negoescu, 26, will be one of Romania's youngest debut directors ever, matched in recent years only by Radu Potcoava and the late Cristian Nemescu, who died in a car accident before finishing his California Dreamin' (Endless) [+see also:
trailer
film profile].