This year’s jury nominated 21 film productions released in cinemas in 2016 for the 11th edition of the Gopo Awards. The Gala will take place on 21st March at the „I.L.Caragiale” National Theatre in Bucharest.

The eleventh Gopo Awards Gala is organized by Romanian Film Promotion (APFR) . The event takes place every year and awards the biggest values of the Romanian cinema.

“Sieranevada” and “Dogs” scored thirteen nominations, in categories such as “Best Feature Film”, “Best Actor”, “Best Director” and “Best Cinematography”.

Cristian Mungiu (“Graduation”), Adrian Sitaru (“Illegitimate”), Cristi Puiu (“Sieranevada”), Bogdan Mirică (“Dogs”) and Radu Jude (“Scarred Hearts”) are competing for Best Director.

The nominations for Best Feature Film are:

– “Graduation” (Cristian Mungiu)
– “Dogs” Bogdan Mirică
– “Two lottery tickets” (Paul Negoescu)
– “Scarred Hearts” (Radu Jude)
– “Sieranevada” (Cristi Puiu).

Adrian Titieni (Romeo in “Graduation”), Gheorghe Visu (Hogaș in “Dogs”), Bogdan Dumitrache (George in “Double”), András Hatházi (Lucian in ”Orizont”) and Mimi Brănescu (Lary i  ”Sieranevada”) will compete for Best Actor.

Adrian Titieni has also been nominated for Best Actor in a supporting role  for his performance as Victor in Adrian Sitaru’s drama “Illegitimate”. The full list of nominees includes:

– Vlad Ivanov, for his role as Samir in “Dogs”
– Șerban Pavlu, for his role as Doctor Ceafalan in “Scarred Hearts”
– Petre Ciubotaru for his role as deputy mayor in “Graduation”
– Sorin Medeleni for his role as Tony in “Sieranevada”

The trophy for Best Actress is disputed between Medeea Marinescu (Monica in “03.Bypass”), Dana Dogaru (Nușa in “Sieranevada”), Maria Drăguș (Eliza in “Graduation”), Rodica Lazăr (Andra in filmul “Orizont”) and Alina Grigore (Sasha in “Illegitimate”).

Perhaps the biggest surprise happened in Best Actress in a supporting role category, where four actresses playing in the same film, “Sierranevada” have been nominated: Tatiana Iekel, Cătălina Moga, Ana Ciontea, Judith State.

Viorica Geantă Chelbea was also nominated for her role in swiss co-production ”The Miracle of Tekir” (directed by Ruxandra Zenide).

Best Screenplay nominees are as follows: Cristian Mungiu (for “Graduation”), Bogdan Mirică (for “Dogs”), Paul Negoescu (for “Two lottery tickets”), Radu Jude (for “Scarred Hearts”) or Cristi Puiu (for “Sieranevada”).

Andrei Butică (“Dogs”), Pătru Păunescu (“Double”), Marius Panduru (“Scarred hearts”), Oleg Mutu (“Orizont”) and Barbu Bălășoiu (“Sieranevada”) compete for Best Cinematography.

Mircea Olteanu (“Graduation” and “Illegitimate”), Roxana Szel (“Dogs”), Theo Lichtenberger (“Illegitimate”), Cătălin Cristuțiu (“Scarred Hearts”) and Letiția Ștefănescu, Ciprian Cimpoi (“Sieranevada”) are in the cards for Best feature film editing.

This year, five director will compete for Best Debut:
– Bogdan Mirica – Dogs
– Ion Indolean – Discordia (What goes with badminton)
– Catrinel Danaiata – Double

The award for Best Documentary Film could go to “Camera obscura” (directed by Gheorghe Preda), “A Mere Breath” (directed by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan), “Dream images” (directed by Sorin Luca), “In Search of The Lost Father” (directed by Ionuț Teianu) or “Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons” (directed by Șerban Georgescu).

The nominations for Best Short Film are:“4:15 PM The End of The World” (directed by Cătălin Rotaru and Gabi Virginia Șarga), “My name is Costin” (directed by Radu Potcoavă), “Ninel” (directed by Constantin Popescu), “Pipe, Sex and Omelette” (directed by Ana-Maria Comănescu) and “The Projectionist” (directed by Norbert Fodor).

For Best European Feature Film, the jury of Gopo Awards nominated the following films:

– ”Son of Saul” (dir. László Nemes)
– ”Toni Erdmann” (dir. Maren Ade)
– ”La Isla Minima” (dir. Alberto Rodríguez)
– ”Rams” (dir. Grímur Hákonarson)
– “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence” (dir. Roy Andersson)

The complete list of nominees can be found on Gopo’s Awards website.

This year’s nominees were selected by a jury of eleven professionals from the film industry: Gabriel Achim ( film director), Oana Iancu (producer), Doru Ana (actor), Raluca Mănescu (script writer), Tudor Mircea (Director of Photography), Nita Chivulescu (editor) and film critics Dana Duma, Ileana Bîrsan, Andrei Şendrea, Dragoş Marin and Doru Pop.

Almost 500 active members from the Romanian film industry will decide the winners of the Gopo 2017 trophies. This process will be done through a voting system provided by the auditing and consulting company PwC Romania.

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.