Octav Chelaru
Octav Chelaru | |
|---|---|
 Octav Chelaru at Locarno Film Festival, before the premiere of "Black Clothes" | |
| Born | September 30, 1991 |
| Other names | Octavian-Dumitru Chelaru |
| Education | Alexandru Ioan Cuza University |
| Occupations |
|
| Notable work | A Higher Law (2021), The Parallel State (2020), Black Clothes (2017) |
Octav Chelaru (born 30 September 1991) is a Romanian
Debut film
His feature film
In 2017, the project was selected at the Villa Kult Residency in Berlin, the Transilvania Pitch Stop in Cluj-Napoca and the Pustnik Screenwriters' Residency. In 2018, it went to Midpoint Feature Launch[5] (Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy), to Less is More Development Programme (France, Poland, Romania), to the CineLink Workshop and Co-production Market[6] at the Sarajevo Film Festival and to the International Project Discovery Forum at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. Later in the process, it was selected to the 2019 APostLab Post Production Workshop in Bucharest, the 2020 Work in Progress of the Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, the 2021 Closed Screenings of the Transilvania International Film Festival[7] and the 2021 First Cut+ Lab at the Trieste Film Festival.
The film had the World premiere at the 62nd edition of the
In Romania, A Higher Law premiered in the Official Competition of the 21st edition of the
The film had the Gala Premiere on 29th of August, 2022, at the Romanian Athenaeum and was released in cinemas nationwide on 9th of September, 2022.
A Higher Law was released in the Cinema City network (Arad,
The film was nominated for 8 categories at the 2023 edition of the Gopo Awards, the Romanian equivalent of the Spain's Goya Awards or the France's César Awards. Octav Chelaru was nominated for Best Debut Film and Best Screenplay, Mălina Manovici for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Sergiu Smerea for Best Supporting Actor, Barbu Bălășoiu for Best Cinematography, Dragoș Apetri for Best Editing, Martin Kohlstedt for Best Original Music, and the sound team (Johannes Doberenz - sound recordist, Sebastian Schmidt - sound designer, Christoph Wieczorek - re-recording mixer) for Best Sound.
In 2023, the film had its US premiere at 9th edition of The Romanian Film Festival Seattle,[33] had its premiere in Germany at the Luchs Kino in Halle (Saale), was selected in the 7th edition of the Šumadijski internacionalni filmski festival[34] in Kragujevac, Serbia, was selected in the 13th edition of the Romanian Film Festival in Spain, which screened the film in multiple cities around the country, including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Oviedo, Zaragoza, Santander and Palma de Mallorca and it was selected in Le Giornate del Cinema Rumeno in Rome, Italy. Also, it won the Special Mention for the Producer of the Year[35] at Independent Producers Indie Film Festival (IPIFF).
Sophomore film
His sophomore feature film has the working title Rara Avis and it was developed at the Pustnik Screenwriters' Residency.[36] At the 2023 edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival, the project was awarded the Alex. Leo Șerban Scholarship Special Mention.[37]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Screenwriter | Producer | |||
| 2014 | False Positive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short Film |
| 2015 | Occupied | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short Film |
| 2015 | Private Party | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short Film |
| 2017 | Black Clothes | Yes | Yes | Short Film Premiered at Locarno Festival
| |
| 2020 | The Parallel State | Yes | Yes | Short Film Premiered at Locarno Festival
| |
| 2021 | A Higher Law | Yes | Yes | Debut Feature Film Premiered at 49th Film Fest Ghent, 26th International Film Festival of Kerala
| |
| 2024 | Unmerry Christmas | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short Film |
References
- ^ "Locarno 2017".
- ^ "Locarno 2020".
- ^ "Cineuropa: Octav Chelaru to start production for first feature".
- ^ "Film New Europe: Romanian/German/Serbian Coproduction Balaur Goes into Postproduction".
- ^ "Variety: Karlovy Vary, MIDPOINT Launch Program for Projects In Development".
- ^ "CineLink Reveals First Projects Selected for Co-production market and CineLink Drama".
- ^ "Screen Daily: Four new Romanian projects presented at Transilvania's Closed Screenings showcase".
- ^ "Thessaloniki International Film Festival: official page for A Higher Law".
- ^ "International Film Festival of India: official press release".
- ^ "Film Fest Ghent: official page for A Higher Law".
- ^ "International Film Festival of Kerala: official page for A Higher Law".
- ^ "TIFF 2022: More than 130,000 attended events at this year's festival".
- ^ "Screen International: A Higher Law Review".
- ^ "Serbian Film Center: A Higher Law Review".
- ^ "Liternet: A Higher Law Review - Nicolas Serban, The Barely Visible Oppression of Archaic Systems".
- ^ "Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival".
- ^ "Cinema Victoria Timișoara".
- ^ "TIFF Sibiu".
- ^ "ESTE Filmul de Miercuri".
- ^ "Serile Filmului Românesc la Iași".
- ^ "Cinema Victoria Cluj-Napoca".
- ^ "Grădina cu Filme CREART".
- ^ "Noaptea Albă a Filmului Românesc".
- ^ "Anonimul International Independent Film Festival".
- ^ "Alba Iulia Music & Film Festival".
- ^ "TIFF Oradea".
- ^ "Cinema Arta Arad".
- ^ "Caravana Filmelor TIFF Unlimited".
- ^ "Sunscreen Film & Arts Festival".
- ^ "Centrul Cultural Reduta Brașov".
- ^ "Buzău International Arts Festival".
- ^ "Zilele Filmului Românesc la Chișinău".
- ^ "The Romanian Film Festival Seattle - 9th Edition".
- ^ "Official program of ŠIFF 2022, Kragujevac".
- ^ "Câștigătorii celei de-a XVII-a ediții IPIFF".
- ^ "Pustnik inaugurates its residency for sophomore fiction features".
- ^ "Winners of the 22nd edition of Transilvania International Film Festival".