"I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians"

"Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari"

59th TIFF: Greek Premiere

“I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians.” These words, spoken in the Council of Ministers of Romania in the summer of 1941, started the ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. The film attempts to comment on this statement. Notes: “military reenactment / Hannah Arendt / 1941, ‘the year that keeps returning,’ as seen from 2018 / quotations / firearms / archive footage / the Odessa massacre / burlesque / dialogues / Isaac Babel / fragmented narrative / ‘Wenn die Soldaten durch die Stadt marschieren’ / trivialization by comparison / barracks jokes / the present past, the past present.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.


Direction: Radu Jude
Script: Radu Jude
Cinematography: Marius Panduru
Editing: Cătălin Cristuțiu
Sound: Dana Bunescu
Actors: Ioana Iacob, Alexandru Dabija, Alex Bogdan, Ilinca Manolache, Șerban Pavlu, Ion Rizea
Production: Hi Film Productions
Producers: Ada Solomon
Co-production: Endorfilm, Les Films d'ici, KLAS Film, Komplizen Film, ZDF/ARTE, TVR
Co-producers: Jiří Konečný, Serge Lalou, Claire Dornoy, Rossitsa Valkanova, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade
Art Direction: Iuliana Vîlsan
Costumes: Iuliana Vîlsan
Make Up: Petya Simeonova
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: Romania, Czech Republic, France, Bulgaria, Germany
Production Year: 2018
Duration: 139΄
Contact: Beta Cinema, beta@betacinema.com
Awards/Distinctions: Crystal Globe, Europa Cinemas Label Award – Karlovy Vary IFF (2018) Golden Barge – Vukovar IFF 2018

Radu Jude

Radu Jude is a Romanian director and screenwriter. In 2006, he made the short film The Tube with a Hat, winner of more than 50 international awards. Jude’s feature debut The Happiest Girl in the World (2009) was selected for more than 50 international film festivals. Titles such as Aferim!, Scarred Hearts, and Everybody in Our Family followed and won multiple awards. The international premiere of The Dead Nation in Locarno 2017 marked his debut in documentary film. “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” (2018) won the Crystal Globe for Best Film and Label Europa Cinema Prize in Karlovy Vary in 2018. Uppercase Print and The Exit of the Trains (co-directed with Adrian Cioflâncă), premiered in Berlinale Forum 2020. His latest feature, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, won the Golden Bear in Berlinale 2021. In the summer of 2021, Radu Jude was present in Locarno IFF – Corti d’Autore with the short Caricaturana and in Venice IFF – Out of Competition with the short film Semiotic Plastic. His short The Potemkinists premiered in Quinzaine des Realisateurs 2022 and has travelled in over 20 festivals up to now.

Filmography

2009 The Happiest Girl in the World
2012 Everybody in Our Family
2015 Aferim!
2016 Scarred Hearts
2017 The Dead Nation (documentary)
2018 “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”
2021 Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
2023 Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World