This week, the Rumanian filmmaker Radu Jude has arrived at Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture to begin a stay of four weeks in the context of the Filmmakers in residency initiative running at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola. The programme combines support for the projects by the guest moviemakers with the creation of a space for practical and theoretical exchange with students at the school. 

During his stay at the EQZE, Radu Jude will tell students in the Filmmaking group about the progress (screenplay, images of the castings, locations, camera tests...) made on his new film to be shot some time mid-2022. Jude will also organise a seminar on the dilemmas faced by the cinema when addressing issues related to historical memory based on the critical analysis of Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari / I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians and of some of the materials (photographs, archive footage and texts...) making up this work. Completing the moviemaker’s proposal is the development of a cinematic project composed of several short pieces based on the adaptation of texts by either Thomas Bernhard or Anton Chekhov. The idea is that the students become involved and actively participate in the complete creative process. At one point in the residency, Jude will be accompanied by Marius Panduru, cinematographer on the majority of his works and regular collaborator of other relevant Rumanian moviemakers including Cristi Puiu and Corneliu Porumboiu.   

Making the most of his stay in San Sebastian, and in keeping with the spirit of shared projects between the different cultural institutions housed in Tabakalera, Jude will also participate in two activities organised by the San Sebastian Festival and Tabakalera, respectively.

His directorial debut, Cea mai fericitã fatã din lume / The Happiest Girl in the World will screen in the Tabakalera cinema on Saturday 12th; as well as introducing the filmscreening, Jude will also participate in a post-screening Q&A. This event is part of Zinemaldia + Plus, the monthly programme run by the San Sebastian Festival on the Tabakalera shared screen. 

A Spoken Cinema session is also scheduled for Saturday 19th, featuring the film Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc / Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. The winning movie of Berlin’s Golden Bear will screen at 17:00, while Spoken Cinema will start at 19:00 in a session at which the guest moviemakers will explain the processes involved in their work: the decision-making and unseen materials such as casting auditions, versions of the screenplay or deleted scenes; an oral story to better understand the paths of creation.  

Tickets for both activities can be purchased on the Tabakalera website or at the ticket desk of the international centre for contemporary culture.

Radu Jude (Bucharest, 1977) debuted in feature films with Cea mai fericită fată din lume / The Happiest Girl in the World (2009), which was selected for numerous international festivals. Particularly worthy of note in his filmography are Aferim! (2015), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Festival, Inimi cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts, 2016), Special Jury Prize at Locarno, and Îmi este indiferent daca în istorie vom intra ca barbari (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, 2018), Crystal Globe for Best Film at Karlovy Vary. He has also directed the documentaries Țara moartă (The Dead Nation, 2017) and Iesirea trenurilor din gara (2020). Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc / Bad Luck Banging or Loony Pornwon the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Festival in 2021 and was programmed in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera. In 2022 he presented the short film Amintiri de pe Frontul de Est / Memories from the Eastern Front at the Berlinale.