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PRODUCTION Romania

Dan Chişu to study the manipulation of the truth in The Gendarme

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- The Domestic Film production is eyeing next summer for the start of shooting

Dan Chişu to study the manipulation of the truth in The Gendarme
Director Dan Chişu

Dan Chişu, one of Romania’s most prolific directors and producers, is preparing a new feature, The Gendarme. Producer Anamaria Antoci, of Domestic Film, tells Cineuropa that her team is eyeing next summer or autumn for the six-week shoot. Adrian Silişteanu will be the DoP.

Written by Chişu, the screenplay’s starting point is a real event: in 2013, a screening of the LGBT film The Kids Are All Right in an arthouse cinema in Bucharest was interrupted by representatives of a far-right movement, who started protesting against the film's message. The Gendarme shows what happened from the point of view of the leader of the team sent by the local Gendarmerie to make sure the disturbance didn’t escalate.

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The film's budget amounts to €735,000, with approximately €250,000 coming from the Romanian National Film Center. The production received a supplementary €113,000 from the Center in the guise of automatic support following the positive reception of one of Chişu’s previous features, Bucharest Non-Stop [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. Producer Antoci tells Cineuropa that Domestic Film is already negotiating a co-production deal with a Dutch production company. She also has her eye on France and Romania’s neighbouring countries as possible co-production partners. Asked about a particular production challenge, she mentions a partnership with the Romanian Gendarmerie, so that the team will be able to use the institution’s insignia.

Chişu describes The Gendarme as a “series of events that persuade the protagonist to re-evaluate his life”. The project will also try to show that the truth looks different from different points of view – in this case, mainly from those of law enforcement and the media. “What happens in the cinema is a pretext for analysing the relativity of truth and how it can be modified by the fourth estate, which has all the means necessary to manipulate public opinion,” says the director.

The helmer’s latest feature, The Anniversary [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, will be competing in the official competition of the imminent Warsaw International Film Festival (13-22 October).

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