For the first time in the history of the festival and Bran Castle, AIFF 8 organizes special screenings on June 7 and 8, in the castle courtyard.
The proposal of AIFF 8 is to reconnect the Romanian public, but also potential foreign tourists, with the beauty of the open-air cinema, accentuated by the unique setting and the breathtaking atmosphere of one of the most beautiful places in Romania.

"AIFF 8 continues its mission to offer the Romanian public films that are more than just entertainment, to mediate the dialogue of the public with the filmmakers, to cultivate the experience of watching cinema films as a social event, in the middle of the community and to use the cinema as an opportunity to connect and communicate with others, including by popularizing some social causes to which the festival donates, as every year, the proceeds from ticket sales.", says Cristian Mungiu, director of AIFF.

The Prorom title Hit Man (directed by Richard Linklater) will open the festival, on Friday, June 07, both at Cinema Elvire Popesco in Bucharest and outdoors, in the courtyard of Bran Castle.

Richard Linklater, one of the most important contemporary American directors is known to the public, among others, for the series Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) and for the ambitious film project Boyhood (2014) filmed throughout 12 years.

Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater's sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department.

Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary descends into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona).

As Madison falls for one of Gary's hit man personas -- the mysteriously sexy Ron -- their steamy affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes.

Co-written by Linklater and Powell and inspired by an incredible true story, Hit Man is a smart existential comedy about identity that premiered at Venice and was selected at Sundance.

Hit Man is distributed by Prorom in Eastern Europe.

The Hurt Locker, The Wolf of Wall Street and Limitless, which have some impressive casts, will be broadcast on Wednesdays at 21:00.

The Hurt Locker (2008) won six Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director, with Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The film, scheduled for August 2nd, stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), directed by Martin Scorsese, will be released on August 9.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie and Matthew McConaughey are part of the cast of the film nominated for five Oscars.

The sci-fi thriller Limitless (2011), directed by Neil Burger, is included in the Warner TV schedule on August 16.

Bradley Cooper leads a cast that includes Anna Friel, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish and Andrew Howard.

The hottest comic in America, Sebastian Maniscalco joins forces with legendary Italian-American and two-time Oscar® winner, Robert De Niro (Best Actor, Raging Bull, 1980), in the new comedy About My Father.

The film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco) who is encouraged by his fiancée (Leslie Bibb) to bring his immigrant, hairdresser father, Salvo (De Niro), to a weekend get-together with her super-rich and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, David Rasche).

According to About My Father star and co-screenwriter, Sebastian Maniscalco, “the film is about two different families, from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, colliding during a holiday weekend, before they realize that those differences are what make them unique.”

Maniscalco, a celebrated stand-up comedian, adds that his onscreen persona “is trying to walk a tightrope with his father in bringing him into an environment that is unfamiliar to him.”

When asked about the script, De Niro says, “I saw that it had a personal element from Sebastian's experience, obviously. And, after getting to know Laura Terruso a little bit, I realized her background too. They [Sebastian and Laura] knew the world. They're from the world. So that was an important part of it [the story],” says De Niro.

Early on, De Niro, famed for his immersion in his roles, requested a special read-through of the script with a group of fellow actors. “So, we flew to New York, during the height of the pandemic, and did a table read with him,” Maniscalco describes. “We were all wearing masks, and it was a little weird, but we were glad to do it.”

It also seemed pre-destined for Laura Terruso to direct. The award-winning director, screenwriter and producer had completed a feature film for Netflix, Work It, when the script for About My Father came her way. Her reaction was immediate and unsubtle: “This script made me jump and say, ‘I must direct this movie’ because it felt so personal and universal.”

Terruso’s personal connection to the project comes from her background, which parallel’s Maniscalco’s in significant ways. As she explains, “Sebastian’s father emigrated from Sicily in the 1960s, as did my mother, and we’ve both found our way into comedy.”

“Sebastian wrote the movie as a love letter to his father, and for me, it was clearly a love letter to my mother. We really bonded on that level and felt like, okay, we know who and what this is about and that guided all the decision making moving forward.”

About My Father is directed by Laura Terruso and written by Austen Earl & Sebastian Maniscalco.

Prorom will release About My Father this weekend in: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and in June in Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The hottest comic in America, Sebastian Maniscalco joins forces with legendary Italian-American and two-time Oscar® winner, Robert De Niro (Best Actor, Raging Bull, 1980), in the new comedy About My Father.

The film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco) who is encouraged by his fiancée (Leslie Bibb) to bring his immigrant, hairdresser father, Salvo (De Niro), to a weekend get-together with her super-rich and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, David Rasche).

The weekend develops into what can only be described as a culture clash, leaving Sebastian and Salvo to discover that the great thing about family is everything about family.

About My Father is directed by Laura Terruso and written by Austen Earl & Sebastian Maniscalco.

Prorom will release About My Father in the following territories: Hungary (May 25), Romania, Bulgaria (May 26) and Czech Republic and Slovakia in June.

Photo credit: Dan Anderson.

Everything Everywhere took home seven Oscars on Sunday night, including Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert), Best Original Screenplay (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert), Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Michelle Yeoh, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role – Jamie Lee Curtis, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Ke Huy Quan and Best Achievement in Film Editing – Paul Rogers.

The story follows Evelyn, an aging Chinese immigrant who goes on a wild adventure and is eventually tasked with saving the world.

A24, the Independent film studio behind Everything Everywhere All At Once, has made history, becoming the first in the 95-year history of the Oscars to capture the top 6 Awards at once: the four acting categories, director and picture.

This unprecedented achievement was possible with the awards won by the blockbuster Everything Everywhere All At Once, as well as Brendan Fraser's award for critically-acclaimed performance in The Whale.

The audience resonated with the story presented in a completely new way: mixing fantasy images, martial arts, humor, family drama and ironic commentary on the information age.

Thanks to all these elements, the film received the most nominations (11) at the 95th Academy Awards Gala, which will take place on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood.

Besides nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role - Michelle Yeoh, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Stephanie Hsu, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jamie Lee Curtis and Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Ke Huy Quan, the film is up for Best Picture, Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Costume design (Shirley Kurata), Editing (Paul Rogers), Original song (Ryan Lott, David Byrne, Mitski for song This Is a Life), Original score (Son Lux) and Original screenplay (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert).

An exciting story with 11 Oscar nominations, now in cinemas!