A fost sau n-a fost?
12:08 East of Bukarest

Erste Bank supports the presentation of the Romanian film A fost sau n-a fost? 12:08 East of Bucharest at Gartenbaukino.

Vienna’s Gartenbaukino traditionally features a special Christmas film each year. In December 2006, the Austrian cinema presented A fost sau n-a fost? 12:08 East of Bucharest, the first feature film of Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, who was awarded the Camera d’Or prize for best debut film at the Cannes 2006 Film Festival.

“On 22 December 1989, an angry crowd forced the Romanian dictator Ceausescu to flee Bucharest in a helicopter. Sixteen years after this historic event, the owner of a local TV station in a small town east of Bucharest invites two guests to recall their revolutionary deeds and share them with the audience. The first is Piscoci, an old retiree, the other Manescu, a history teacher. Together they recollect the day when they stormed the town hall shouting ‘Down with Ceausescu!’”
In recent years, Romania has been the only Eastern European country to deal with its own history in film in such a serious and, at the same time, ingenious way, of which 12:08 East of Bucharest is another exceptional example.

Together with Erste Bank, Gartenbaukino hosted a Christmas gala showing of the film on 15 December 2006, attended by director Corneliu Porumboiu and producer Dan Burlac.