US Avant-Premiere. Post-Screening Q&A with Co-Director and Editor Dana Bunescu on Thu Mar 30 at 6:30pm.
Romania’s most esteemed editor and sound designer Bunescu and expert anthropologist Tesar join forces in chronicling the fascinating universe of the traditional Roma community called ‘cortorari’ and their convoluted marriage rituals. The wedding alliance revolves around the family heirloom, the eponymous silver cup serving as clan emblem and status symbol. Although the bride’s family ought to pay a cash dowry to the groom’s parents, there’s a catch: the bride’s father gets to keep the groom’s chalice until the young couple succeeds in having a baby boy. What follows is the engaging endeavor of one such couple to birth a son, complete with the simmering feud between their families, in this raw and revealing documentary about how generations old customs may shape new destinies.
Playing as part of the 17th Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival, the longstanding Romanian Film Festival in New York. Presented by Insula 42, in partnership with Metrograph, Roxy Cinema New York, DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema and Film Forum. With lead funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the support of Dacin Sara, the Romanian Filmmakers Union, Blue Heron Foundation, Mastercard, the Romanian National Film Center, and individual donors.