1. Surely, at the moment, you are the most known and “overworked” communication professional in the Romanian film. You were a PR manager for One Step Behind the Seraphim, Soldiers. Story From Ferentari, Charleston, The Dead Nation, Scarred Hearts, and the list can continue with many other titles. But what was the first film you’ve done the communication for and what did you learn from your first experience?

First of All, Felicia seems to be from another life. It happened 10 years ago …. I would have liked to get more visibility for Ozana Oancea, the actress in the lead role. But that’s how I learned that you have to fight a lot for your film, for exposure, for exhibition, and at that time each entry, each activation was a victory.

2. Probably many wonder what does it mean, more precisely, to deal with PR for Romanian films. So, what does a day in your life look like?

The good part is that no day is the same ☺. I try to start my day as slow as possible, without thunderbolts and less stress. It doesn’t always happen as I plan to. First of all I put music, then I browse through online news, Instagram, Facebook …

A day in my life at the beginning of a campaign is completely different from the day before the premiere and totally something else than the moment I watch, discover a film or when the story sets in my mind and I know clearly which buttons I will press. There is no classic recipe just as no campaign looks like another. I like reading all sorts of statistics about social media, trends, discovering cool songs or dreaming about holidays and road trips to new places. I think that’s why I like to go on foot through Bucharest and discover each time a street with the most beautiful light or with all kinds of houses, one more special than another. Basically, I do not have a standard program, 11 to 19, after which I have time for myself and have a normal life. Adrenaline is the one that totally supports me.

3. What has been your favorite communication campaign so far and why?

It’s very hard to make a top list. I liked the communication campaign for Child’s Pose, we had a lot of fun, and the Tom Sawyer campaign was very entertaining, we achieved very good results with Miss Christina and promoting the film on Halloween, I really enjoyed the exhibition for the release of Stations of the Cross, not to mention the first Romanian endorsement campaign for a film – Pina, the first 3D art film.

4. Which is usually the biggest challenge in the whole equation of promoting a Romanian film?

If it were just one challenge, it would be so simple ☺. Or it would considerably simplify the situation. First of all, it’s the promotion budget which, unfortunately, is not the most comfortable topic when it comes to Romanian film and you try to draw the battle plan. But we all know that promotion with money can be done by anyone, so no cause for concern. I like the challenges ☺.

5. For what foreign film would you have liked to do the PR and what would you have done in that sense?

There are so many excellent European films that get released here but that are so little heard of, they go unnoticed, so I step in the viewer’s shoes who arrives at the multiplex, and has to guide himself by a poster or at most a trailer watched on the phone at the last minute. But, if I were to look back, I would have loved to do the campaign for Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. It would have been uber-challenging☺.

6. What are you going to talk about at Masterclass #6: How films reach the audience? What should we expect?

I have so many stories, so different from one film to another, that I have the feeling that we can talk 24 hours about the way a film gets to the general audience, to the niched one in particular, or to the audience you want to win on your side. I can’t wait for the participants’ reactions and curiosities.

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The Student Hub Masterclass with Cătălin Anchidin will be held on March 25th at Point. All available seats have already been reserved. Learn more about Student Hub events here.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.