RO-IFF: Oscar guests and story, both on screen and in real life

Bucureşti, 28 October, 2011 – In just a few days, between 1st and 9th of October, Romania International Film Festival (RO-IFF) opens Corso and Eforie theaters to film lovers. Over 40 films, united into six sections, are joined to meet the Romanian public and many important guests have confirmed their presence.

First RO-IFF special guest is Julie Taymor, winner of an Emmy, Oscar and Golden Lion nominee for Frida (2002). Julie Taymor (b. 1952) is a theater, opera and film director, the first woman to receive the prestigious Tony Award for directing a musical.

Julie Taymor made her film debut in 1999 with Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange in the lead roles. Her most recent film, The Tempest (to be seen in the section 2 x 3 of the RO-IFF) has Helen Mirren starring in the role of Prospero / Prospera. Her previous film,  Across the Universe (also to be seen in the festival) is a love story featuring The Beatles most popular songs. It was nominated for a Golden Globe and has Bono (U2) as part of the cast. Frida (2002) starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, gathered six Oscar nominations and won two such golden statues.

Taymor is well known for directing the play The Lion King (1997) on the Broadway and for which she received two Tony awards. Among her many theatrical productions are Darien: A Carnival Mass, presented at Lincoln Center (1996), play which received five Tony Award nominations, including one for the Best Director.

Taymor’s many opera directions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute, currently in the repertoire of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City; Oedipus Rex which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Jury Award at the Montreal Festival of Films on Art and an Emmy; The Flying Dutchman for the Los Angeles Music Center in a co-production with the Houston Grand Opera; and Salomé for the Kirov Opera in Russia, Germany, and Israel.

Taymor graduated from Oberlin in 1974 and was presented with a Watson traveling fellowship, allowing her to travel to Japan and Indonesia (1975-79). In addition to her two Tony awards, she has also received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two OBIE Awards, the first Annual Dorothy B. Chandler Award in Theater, and the Brandeis Creative Arts Award. An illustrated book on her career, Julie Taymor: Playing With Fire, was recently expanded and revised by Harry N. Abrams.

In collaboration with the Romanian director Andrei Serban, Taymor created a dazzling production of the fairy tale The King Stag, written by the 18th century Venetian play writer Carlo Gozzi. Taymor designed the costumes, masks and giant puppets, and helped Serban devise a style of movement drawing on the Japanese kabuki theater and Balinese ritual, as well as Italian commedia dell'arte. The production first appeared at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1984. It was subsequently staged in New York and Los Angeles and has traveled to Venice, Madrid, Tokyo, Taipei and Moscow. It has been revived numerous times, and in 2000, the production was taken on a 66-city tour of the United States and Europe.

In early '80s, Julie Taymor meets Elliot Goldenthal, a musician who becomes her partner both in work and in life. Goldenthal wrote the music for most of her projects includin the music for the Oscar winning Frida (2002).

Elliot is known for the film soundtracks such as Alien 3, Michael Collins, Batman Forever, Heat or Demolition Man. It has six ASCAP awards, three Academy Award nominations and a win, two nominations and a Golden Globe and numerous other awards and nominations.

Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor will be in Bucharest at the Romanian International Film Festival on the 7th h of October in Corso Cinema for presenting  The Tempest, their latest project, and to discuss their movie with the Romanian public.

Romania International Film Festival (RO-IFF) is under the high patronage of the Romanian President. Those who helped this RO-IFF edition, and to whom we are deeply grateful, are: the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, CNC, RADEF (institutional partners), Penny Market, Michael Adam Vodka, label 5, TT & A (sponsors), Howard Johnson Hotels, DHL, Active Rent A Car (partners). Our media partners are: Europa FM, UTV, Şapte Seri, Romania Libera, News Outdoor Romania, OOPS Media and port.ro.

On our official website, www.ro-iff.ro, you will find more details about the program of the festival and press passes.

Press Office :
Ruxandra Predescu, 0744307512
Andreea Andreescu, 0730026742
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www.ro-iff.ro