Ion Bors: Last News

Christopher Vourlias In the fall of 1990, in the dying days of the Soviet Union, fighting broke out in the breakaway republic of Transnistria between Russian-backed separatists and forces loyal to the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, a territory on the cusp of its own successful campaign of independence from Moscow. The Transnistria War hardly registers as more than a footnote in most world history books, but it was nevertheless a formative moment in the making of Moldova, a small nation carved from the flank of Eastern Romania and nestled against the western border of Ukraine. When Moldovan filmmaker Ion Borş was growing up in Chisinau, the capital of the former Soviet republic, he heard stories about the conflict from his father, a veteran of Transnistria. The tales — no doubt embellished for his audience — were “tragic but also comical,” says Borş, driving home the absurdity of a war that likely looks even more confounding to its participants more than 30 years later.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentThree buzzy titles, all turning on women carving out their own destinies  – Carmen Jaquier’s “Thunder,” Laura Baumeister’s “Daughter of Rage” and Dinara Drukarova’s “Grand Marin” – feature in the 13-title lineup of San Sebastian’s 2022 New Directors section.Also making the New Directors’ cut – now firmly consolidated as the most important sidebar at the highest-profile film festival in the Spanish-speaking world – is “Tobacco Barns,” the awaited and second feature from Spain’s Rocío Mesa, as well as Jeong Ji-hye’s Jeonju Festival winner “Jeong-sun” which has its director hailed as a talent to track.Eight of the 13 features are directed by women who also serve as protagonists in most of the section’s films. Their themes range wide, however, from the absurdity of Moldova’s past (“Carbon”) to an allegorical portrait of civil conflict (“Carbide”) to cybershaming (“Jeong-sun”) and women’s love of literature (“To Books and Women I Sing”).

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentJuan Marisé’s “Camionero,” Laura Baumeister’s “Daughter of Rage” and Ion Bors’ “Carbon” triumphed Wednesday at San Sebastian Festival’s prize ceremony for winners at its main industry competitions: the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum and WIP Latin America and WIP Europa pix-in-post showcases.Also among victors were Juan Andrés Arango’s “Where the River Begins,” María Zanetti’s “Alemania,” Carlos Lechuga’s “Vicenta B.,” and Eduardo Crespo’s “The Wind’s Cave,” the latter walking off with the trophy at San Sebastián’s Ikusmira Berriak, fast emerging as one of the key young talent hubs in Spain.Three of the seven winning titles are from Argentina, a sign of the country’s undeniable depth