The Potemkinists

Potemkiniștii

63rd TIFF: Greek Premiere

In 1905, the sailors on the battleship Potemkin are given political asylum in Romania – an act of defiance against Russia. In 2021, a sculptor wants to create an artwork inspired by the event. A comedy about art, history, memory, and cinema, which film critic Andrei Gorzo describes as “a cross between a Caragiale sketch and a Mark Rappaport video essay.”

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Available at the Agora Market TIFF63.
Direction: Radu Jude
Script: Radu Jude
Cinematography: Marius Panduru
Editing: Cătălin Cristuțiu
Sound: Titi Fleancu, Gabi Marin, Marius Leftărache
Actors: Alexandru Dabija, Cristina Drăghici
Production: microFILM
Producers: Ada Solomon
Costumes: Cireșica Cuciuc
Executive producer: Diana Caravia
Make Up: Bianca Boeroiu
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: Romania
Production Year: 2022
Duration: 18΄
Contact: microFILM
Awards/Distinctions: Best European Short Film – Vila do Conde ISFF 2022

Radu Jude

Radu Jude is a Romanian director and screenwriter. In 2006, he made the short film The Tube with a Hat, winner of more than 50 international awards. Jude’s feature debut The Happiest Girl in the World (2009) was selected for more than 50 international film festivals. Titles such as Aferim!, Scarred Hearts, and Everybody in Our Family followed and won multiple awards. The international premiere of The Dead Nation in Locarno 2017 marked his debut in documentary film. I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians won the Crystal Globe for Best Film and Label Europa Cinemas Prize in Karlovy Vary in 2018. Uppercase Print and The Exit of the Trains (co-directed with Adrian Cioflâncă), premiered in Berlinale Forum 2020. His next feature, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, won the Golden Bear at Berlinale 2021. In the summer of 2021, Radu Jude was present in Locarno IFF – Corti d’Autore with the short Caricaturana and in Venice IFF – Out of Competition with the short film Semiotic Plastic. His short The Potemkinists premiered in Directors' Fortnight in 2022 and has traveled in over 20 festivals up to now. In 2023, he won the Special Jury Prize in Locarno with Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. One year later, he returned to the same festival to premiere his two latest films: Eight Postcards From Utopia and Sleep #2.

Filmography

2006 The Tube with a Hat (short)
2009 The Happiest Girl in the World
2012 Everybody in Our Family
2015 Aferim!
2016 Scarred Hearts
2017 The Dead Nation (doc)
2018 I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians
2021 Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
2023 Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
2024 Eight Postcards from Utopia (doc)
2024 Sleep #2 (doc)