Rezidența9 (32 I.L. Caragiale Street) becomes between September 8-29, 2022, the place where fiction is intertwined with the documentary through silent film screenings within the project “Fictitious Nonfiction” – coordinated by Elena Dobîndă & Emilian Mărgărit and organized by “Image and Sound”.

The interested public can watch every Thursday from 8:00 P.M., thematic groups of documentary and fiction films made between 1913-1940, curated by Călin Boto and adapted soundly by artists: Dan Michiu, Irinel Anghel, Andrei Raicu, and Mihaela Vasiliu. The screenings are followed by discussions, around the selected films, along with the guests Flavia Dima, Valentin-Veron Toma, David Schwartz, and Adrian Cioflâncă.

The project “Fictitious Nonfiction” aims both to reactivate the Romanian archive of silent and soundless films, as well as to support the contemporary experimental music scene in Romania. The six short films included in the program were digitized for the first time with the support of the National Film Archive. Also, the historical film “Ecaterina Teodoroiu” (1931) was remastered.

“Fictitious Nonfiction began long before we realized it, perhaps when we were surprised by the end of the first Romanian fiction feature film – Independence of Romania (1912) – precisely through the two minutes of documentary filming of the May 10th parade of 1912. As well as the medical images, by the microscope, slipped into Jenő Janovics’ Transylvanian melodrama, From the horrors of the world (1920). From one viewing to another we have come to research a self-evident of the history of early cinema, that blur between fiction and documentary: between the staging and the misanthrope of the fact, between what the camera sees and what the camera wants to see. Thus, four thematic lines very different from each other took shape, composed of some short films overtly faithful to the curatorial concept and complemented by others rather sideways to it, but central to the idea, to the “story”. For we too – whether curators or composers – tell stories using also cinematic ready made-ups from afar; in fact, the inevitable fiction lies not only in what the camera wanted to see but also in what we wanted to have seen in its time. Or have heard.” (Calin Boto, film curator and moderator).

On Thursday, September 22, at 8:30 p.m., the film “Oamenii muncii” (1914-1939) will run; details here. The guest of the evening will be David Schwartz, theatre director, and the atmosphere will be maintained with live music by Andrei Raicu.

Next Thursday, September 29, at 8:30 p.m., the film ” Cadre militare” (1914-1931) will be screened; details here. The public will be joined by Adrian Cioflâncă, historian and filmmaker, and will unwind with live music together with Mihaela Vasiliu.

Admission is free subject to availability (45 persons).

The cultural project “Fictitious Nonfiction” is co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund and realized with the financial support of the Union of Filmmakers in Romania.
Rezidența9 is a cultural hotspot in the heart of Bucharest dedicated to the creators of contemporary culture, created by BRD. Rezidența9 is located in a building declared a historical monument, dating from 1890, and belonged to King Michael, being a gift of King Ferdinand to Queen Mary.
Image and Sound is a cultural association focused on the practical and theoretical exploration of contemporary visual and sound arts.