Tuesday 14/11/2000

In his press conference today, Hanno Hoffer, the director of the film, On the other side, which is his first feature film and participates in the Balkan Survey section of the 41st Thessaloniki Film Festival, spoke about the conditions in the film production sector.

The Romanian film maker noted the financial problems of directors in his homeland. As he said, "When someone wishes to make a film, they have to apply for financial assistance to the National Treasury for Financial Aid and if he/she is 'lucky', and the budget is sufficient, they can shoot their film".

Hanno Hoffer has already shot four short films as a student at the University of Film and Television at Timisoara. As he said, the Film School produced 20 to 25 short films per year but no features. Conditions are improving, though, which means that this year there may be six or seven feature films produced. The director also added that he was greatly influenced by Finnish director, Kaurismaki's films, whose work he greatly admires.