The Danube Delta: A serene setting for an arthouse film festival, ANONIMUL

The Anonimul Film Festival, now in its 20th edition, has generated much discussion and written acclaim, but truly, nothing can compare to the firsthand experience of being there, right in the heart of Europe’s magnificent wilderness, the Danube Delta. Business Review talked to Miruna Berescu, the festival’s executive director, to delve into the enchantment of this remarkable and captivating event, which continues to garner increased attention with each passing year.

How would you describe in one word/phrase the 20 years of the Anonimul Festival?

My second child (in a non-chronological order) upbringing if I may start with a joke.

How does the team behind the Anonimul Festival look like? Who has been working on the festival since the beginning?

In 2003, when Sorin Marin – the President of Anonimul Foundation – put up the initial Festival team, my colleague Livia Vasuianu and myself were in it. A lot has changed since then, organizational, team wise and not only, but Livia and I are still colleagues and very good friends. Actually, looking back at our team, we used to work for several years, even 7-10 years, with the same people in the core team, so to speak. I think it is important to keep your colleagues close for as long as they feel it is valuable for them to do that, instead of constantly looking for new people or giving up on colleagues easily. I must say it is not an easy work we have to do, especially when the festival approaches, there is tension, there are things that don’t go smoothly all the time, but I also believe there is a lot of satisfaction if you like what you do. As in any other work place, I would say.

Regarding longevity, do you have any partners/sponsors who have been with the festival since the beginning?

I wish we had, some of our partners are younger than us but we did have some continuous support throughout most of these 20 years – The Romanian Film Centre, for instance.

In previous interviews, you have mentioned that the invitations you extend to international professionals are tailored “according to the person’s soul” after conducting prior research, and you have also expressed the anti-red carpet. How do you identify the qualities of a professional’s “soul” that make them compelling candidates to attend Anonimul?

I didn’t remember that mention, but thinking about it, I guess I see its point. I suggest we take the example of our special guest this year, the Japanese director Naomi Kawase. I clearly remember the impact her film The Mourning Forest had on me more than 15 years ago. Her next films added up to that feeling. In time, Mrs Kawase premiered 8 of her films in Cannes, got a Camera d’Or and a Grand Prix there, is celebrated all over the world with retrospectives of her work and was designated by the International Olympic Committee to direct the official film of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Her masterclasses and interviews on filmmaking could help us put a little piece into that puzzle of nuances on how’s and why’s films have such an impact, make such a difference, fill our souls, and might change us and our lives a bit that, I think, cinephiles hold in their minds.

Inviting big names to any of the festivals is easy, how you convince them to come to ANONIMUL instead of any other festival in the world, bigger or smaller, that might happen around the same dates is trickier. These filmmakers are a treasure for the audience, in my opinion – to be able to listen to them talking about the film you just saw, to ask questions or attend a Masterclass is relevant to people coming to a film festival. Directors like Park Chan-wook, Michel Franco, István Szabó, Peter Greenaway, Ken Loach (twice Palme d’Or winner) have given us, as a festival and to our audience a lot – through their films firstly and secondly by being there with us, sharing their intellectual ideas and expertise on filmmaking but also on life with us, thus opening new little horizons for some of us. Since they keep accepting our invitations, there must be something we are doing right, I guess.

How has the community in Sfântu Gheorghe changed over these 20 years? And from a socio-economic perspective, through the lens of the festival?

Nowadays, the community of Sfântu Gheorghe is, in my opinion, in a good place- there are local business models that work now very well if I compared to what “tourism” looked like back in the 2000’s when it came to accommodation, food options or leisure. Let me put it this way – if I wasn’t doing what I am doing, I would definitely come as a tourist now in Sfântu. I would even have several options that I would like to try when it comes to accommodation and local food experiences. I would love the fact that I could travel there even late-September or October for beautiful sunny beach days. To be able to choose the right experience I am looking for, I would need recommendations for the local boat trips into the Delta or on the canals, as there are many of them that are very well organized, very safe, and professional when it comes to the respect for the wild places we want to visit.

I would be less worried about harming the environment since I would clearly see rules are in place. I would need more days to stay in the village to be able to eat out in all the beautiful, small, authentic pensions. And, for sure, I would feel very safe there if traveling with children.

Coming back to our question, we all see a lot of improvement when it comes to services and a lot of understanding from the community that tourism will help them get through the rough winters. It is not an easy-to-live place, that I think we could all agree on. But times are better now, for both visitors and locals, then 10-15 years ago.

I would also like to say here (although I am not very sure local people from Sfântu Gheorghe, especially my simple genuine friends I have there will read this) that we are very grateful to have been a very small part of this transformation and that I feel very proud every time I have the opportunity to speak about them!

You integrate the traditions and stories of Sfântu Gheorghe beautifully during the festival. How do you create these experiences with the locals?

Thank you for saying that – it has been an important part of our work since the beginning. I think we have had some stages in our relationship with the local community, as first of all we had to get to know them and they had to know us and, more importantly, to trust us. It took some years for the community to see that we come back every year, that the village is flourishing during the Festival and that we are there to build not to destroy. Then, the relationship was able to flourish, too.

Now, we know the community, we know each other basically and it was a constant approach from our side to integrate the community as naturally as possible. After all these years, they also approach us with ideas for creating small events together and this is pure joy for us.

This year, you have also planned a warm-up program for the Anonimul Festival in Bucharest, which takes place with a film screening every month on the 20th at the cinema. How did this idea come about, considering that the audience is more accustomed to the Anonimul retrospective after the festival?

Well, it is not the first time we had a warm-up for the Festival – I mention here only the sold-out screening of Chronic at ARCUB, before the well-known Mexican director Michel Franco attended the Festival back in 2018. Indeed, this year we felt like we needed a bit more to celebrate in advance this edition and the idea of Dan Lupu (our head of PR and Communication) seemed perfect for us: 20 years of ANONIMUL celebrated with some of the most prestigious films that won the Trophy throughout these years each month on the 20^th, furthermore since the Award Gala at the Festival is scheduled on the 20^th of August. A celebration through films that made history in a beautiful cinema hall like Cinema Elvira Popesco in Bucharest was our suggestion and I have to admit it was better received by the audience than I expected!

The Retrospective in Bucharest will take place between 7^th and 10^th of September at ARCUB and, of course, Cinema Elvire Popesco.

In this year’s OFF-Competition, you have selected nine Romanian films that have just been released on the big screen, but only in festivals. It has become a tradition to present Romanian films as premieres before they enter the cinematic circuit. Did you anticipate this format? Is it an additional work with directors and distributors to convince them to present these films in advance?

Meanwhile, another Romanian film completed the list – Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World by Radu Jude. Jude’s film will have its Romanian premiere at ANONIMUL right after the Official Competition in Locarno Film Festival. That is one of our Festival’s highlight and we think our audience will love the fact that they are the first to see Jude’s latest film. Furthermore, this screening matches perfectly with our Festival “strategy” for the lineup this year, especially for the Feature Competition and for the OFF-programs: a look back in time to the directors that were once or multiple times included in our lineup during these 20 years to see where they stand now in terms of their career.

The selection of the five films in the Feature Competition signed by Ludmila Cvikova (our selector for 15 years) is tracking 5 directors that are now turning into well-known directors with constant presence at Cannes, Venice or Sundance that were once at ANONIMUL with their short films or at the very beginning of their career.

So, in a way, we try to emphasis that our programming and the films and directors that we have decided to showcase definitely had something strong to say in this film world, that sometimes might be tough or subjective but it is dedicated to talent and brilliantly inspiring.

If we were to go back in time 20 years, what would you do differently? But if we were to travel in time, what does the Anonimul Festival look like in the next 20 years?

I would definitely be less worried and I would trust the process a little bit more… and I would not say that the Delta is probably full of insects and mosquitoes, as this proved to be such a prejudice on my side.

The traveling in time is not really my thing, I just hope what Naomi Kawase said in a recent interview to be true – ”I think films will be the same for people 1000 years from now.” If she is to be true and this will be the case for the next 1000 years, then I don’t have to worry about 20 years from now.

The festival takes place between Aug 14-20, in Sfantu Gheorghe, Tulcea. The Retrospective in Bucharest will take place between Sept 7-10 at ARCUB and Cinema Elvire Popesco.

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