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    • NTC Award Ceremony
      New Talent Competition gives young filmmakers from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe the opportunity to present their outstanding debut or second film to the public. Join us on Sunday 1 December at 19h
    • Music at ENFF
      The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival welcomes special musical guests each year to enrich our program. For this 16th edition, we’re thrilled to present two talented young musicians: guitarist Antonio Peršak (CR) and violinist İdil Yunkuş (TR). Together, they will perform a traditional Balkan dance and folk song, highlighting the beauty of this music through the… Read more: Music at ENFF
    • Masterclass with Janez Burger
      This masterclass presents a unique opportunity to explore Burger's distinct storytelling style, genre use, and exploration of contemporary social issues. Join us on Saturday 30 November at 17h - Room 5
    • Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema
      Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema on Friday 29 November at 18h

Libertate

dir. TUDOR GIURGIU

DUTCH PREMIERE

Awarded for the Most Popular Romanian Film of the Transilvania IFF 2023, Tudor Giurgiu’s new film reflects on the glories of revolution that have been sung throughout history, which often rarely match the reality. 

Libertate explores the chaos and confusion left in the wake of the 1989 Romanian revolution, following the horrific events in Sibiu and the hundreds of lives destroyed not by bullets, but by lies. Police officer Viorel finds his life turned upside down after he is falsely accused of being a terrorist following the sudden and bloody revolution. Thrust into a role he had no intention of playing, he must now try and escape a system determined to make him one of many scapegoats needed to mask both its heinous cruelty and gruesome incompetence. He must face brutal charges as the world crumbles around him. When the dust of revolution settles, everyone wants answers – but who can be trusted to give them?

SHOWTIMES

Friday, 24 November – 16:35


Sunday, 26 November – 12:15

Buy Tickets Here!

LIBERTATE | 2022 | 109 min | Romania, Hungary

PRODUCTIONOana Bujgoi Giurgiu, Tudor Giurgiu – Libra Films, Mythberg Films
CASTAlex Calangiu, Catalin Herlo, Ionut Caras, Iulian Postelnicu
SCREENPLAYTudor Giurgiu, Cecilia Stefanescu
CINEMATOGRAPHYAlexandru Sterian
EDITINGReka Lemhenyi
LANGUAGERomanian
SUBTITLESEnglish

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Sarajevo Film Festival, 2023 – C.I.C.A.E. Award for Best Film | CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival, 2023 – International Ecumenical Award for Best Film | Transilvania International Film Festival, 2023 – Award for the Most Popular Romanian Film of the Festival

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

The so-called “1989 Revolution” is, most likely, the biggest incompletely consumed event that our society has been through in recent history. This is one of the reasons for wanting to accurately depict the chaos and total confusion of ordinary people during those days. The truth was willingly disguised, whitewashing was cultivated to become state of the art. My generation (I was 18, in 1989) grew up with this “psychosis” of the terrorists; supposedly they were Arabs, then Russian spies, then Securitate officers and so on…

We know now, 30 years later, that these “terrorists” were fictitious, nothing but a concept fabricated inside the disinformation labs that worked flawlessly in the informational chaos of those times. The army shot at innocent civilians and served as principal force of repression against the demonstrators. “Terrorists” had to be invented, they were needed to explain the lack of coordination of the army and the decisions taken against the interest of the people.

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Tudor Giurgiu is a Romanian filmmaker. His directorial debut feature Love Sick was selected in Panorama section of the 2006 Berlinale and awarded in several international festivals. His short Superman, Spiderman or Batman (2011) won Best European Short at the 2012 edition of the European Film Academy Awards. Tudor’s second feature, Of Snails and Men, was awarded at Warsaw IFF and Valladolid IFF. Why Me?, an unsettling legal thriller based on a real case of corruption in present-day Romania, premiered in 2015 Berlinale Panorama. Libertate is Tudor’s fifth feature film.