30/06/2020 - Corneliu Porumboiu’s elegant thriller won as many as nine trophies at the 2020 Gopo Awards

Director Corneliu Porumboiu with one of his awards for The Whistlers (© Miluta Flueras)

After being postponed by approximately three months, the 14th edition of the Gopos, Romania’s film-industry awards, has finally taken place, with the 500 guests at the event being carefully spaced out in an outdoor venue, as per the regulations stipulated by the Romanian authorities.

Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile] (Romania/France/Germany) clearly dominated the evening, as it cashed in on nine of its 13 nominations. It won in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Art Direction.

There is only one other film at the 2020 Gopos which managed to win more than one award: the historical drama Queen Mary of Romania, which won out in the Best Costumes and Best Make-up and Hairstyling categories. All of the other films took home only one gong – for example, Best Leading Actress for Marius Olteanu’s Monsters. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marius Olteanu
film profile] and Best Leading Actor for Andrei Cohn’s Arrest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Cohn
film profile].

Extraordinarily, the Audience Award, which is given to the most popular domestic release of the previous year, was shared by Cristina Jacob’s Oh, Ramona! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (256,000 admissions) and Matei Dima’s 5Gang: Another Kind of Christmas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (which racked up a total of 345,000 admissions, but only 167,025 of these during 2019).

Here is the complete list of competitive winners at the 2020 Gopos:

Best Film
The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile] - Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania/France/Germany)

Best Director
Corneliu Porumboiu – The Whistlers

Best Screenplay
Corneliu Porumboiu – The Whistlers

Best Lead Actress
Judith State – Monsters. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marius Olteanu
film profile]

Best Lead Actor
Iulian Postelnicu - Arrest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Cohn
film profile]

Best Supporting Actress
Rodica Lazăr - The Whistlers

Best Supporting Actor
István Téglás - The Whistlers

Best Cinematography
Tudor Mircea - The Whistlers

Best Editing
Roxana Szel - The Whistlers

Best Sound
Andre Rigaut, Sophie Chiabaut, Niklas Scarp, Christian Holm - The Whistlers

Best Score
Pablo Pico - Marona's Fantastic Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Romania/France/Belgium)

Best Art Direction
Simona Pădureţu - The Whistlers

Best Costumes
Ana Ioneci, Claudia Bunea - Queen Mary of Romania (Romania)

Best Make-up and Hairstyling
Domnica Bodogan, Nastasia Mateiu, Clara Tudose - Queen Mary of Romania

Best First Feature
Touch Me Not [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adina Pintilie
film profile] - Adina Pintilie (Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria/France)

Best Documentary
The Distance Between Me and Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Mona Nicioară, Dana Bunescu (Romania/USA)

Best European Film
Pain & Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Banderas
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] - Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)

Best New Hope
Cătălina Mihai (actress) - Heidi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cătălin Mitulescu
film profile]

Best Short Film
Havana Club - Andrei Huţuleac

Best Short Documentary Film
He Loves My Eyes - Enxhi Rista (Romania/Germany)