The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu

EXCLUSIVE FIRST RUN! ► “What constitutes reality when its images have been stage-managed into baroque pageantry or quasi-Hollywood musicals by a delusional dictator? Cinema’s propagandistic power is in full effect in Andrei Ujică’s radical and chilling montage epic, The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, a contemporary fresco starring Romania’s fallen ruler and his wife, Elena ... Nicolae Ceauşescu’s megalomania and self-aggrandizement are legendary. As Romania’s tyrannical President from 1974 to 1989, he created a bizarre and seemingly infectious cult of personality for himself. As Romania plunged into mass poverty under his draconian austerity programme and his banning of contraception, Ceauşescu continued to be fêted the world over. He was knighted by the Queen of England, visited by President Nixon (during the Cold War, no less) and was received warmly by Charles de Gaulle, Mao Tse-tung, and most auspiciously by the North Koreans, whose welcoming ceremonies for him rivalled those of the Beijing Olympics. Autobiography begins with the infamous television footage of the frail-looking Ceauşescus in captivity undergoing a mock trial prior to their execution on Christmas Day. The film opens onto scenes of pomp and circumstance, chronicling Ceauşescu’s twenty-five-year reign. Eschewing voice-over commentary, the film’s brilliant montage and subtle sound reconstruction create a sui generis film, lying somewhere between Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma and Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera. Four years in the making and culled from one thousand hours of archival footage — both state sanctioned and private — this spellbinding adventure unfolds as if from the nostalgic, solipsistic memory of Ceauşescu himself” (Andréa Picard, Toronto I.F.F.). Colour and B&W, 35mm, in Romanian with English subtitles. 186 mins.