After directing and co-directing almost ten documentaries over the last decade and a half, Romanian director Claudiu Mitcu switches to fiction with Rusalka, which he is co-producing with Ioachim Stroe through their production company, Wearebasca. Chainsaw Europe is the co-production company helping to stage this drama produced without any financial support from the Romanian National Film Center.

(L'article continue plus bas - Inf. publicitaire)

The screenplay, written by Mitcu and Mihai Mincan (whose debut feature, To the North [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Mihai Mincan
fiche film], was released in local cinemas in March after a world premiere in the Orizzonti competition of the 2022 Venice Film Festival), follows several 60- and 70-year-olds spending a few days in the Bulgarian resort of Rusalka. They have been coming here every year since their youth, first as a group of 14, and then as a smaller and smaller gang as death has taken its toll year after year. And now, one of the women in the group will announce she doesn’t have long to live… Besides the friends, the story follows several resort employees, who give a new perspective on what is going on.

The film was shot over 14 days in September 2022 in the Bulgarian resort of Rusalka. Luchian Ciobanu is the DoP. Famed Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern leads the ensemble cast, which also comprises Rodica Lazăr, Diana Gheorghian, Rodica Negrea, Claudiu Istodor, Nelu Serghei, Silvana Mihai, Aida Economu and Pia Brătianu.

Mitcu tells Cineuropa that waiting for financial support from the National Film Center, which “may arrive in one year, two, or maybe even seven”, was not at all in the spirit of this film, which explores ageing and choices that turn out to be bad ones. “I preferred to make it independently, with less money and fewer shooting days. We shot it over 14 days, and the actors understood the project and accepted the pace of production.” Although he cannot state the film’s budget, Mitcu says, “More than half of the existing money was spent on the location.”

Regarding the story, the director-producer says that ageing is a topic he has been interested in for a long time. “You reach a certain age, and you start to look back and realise you didn’t do what now seems right, always focusing on insignificant things, wasting time and losing meaningful connections. […] This place [Rusalka], seemingly forgotten in time, made me imagine the story of these five ageing friends, who were once obsessed with money, fame or their ego, and who are now seen as they fearfully enter the last stage of their lives,” Mitcu explains.