Roma Filmmaker Alina Serban Brings Her ‘Urban Cinderella Story’ to the Big Screen With Debut Feature ‘I Matter’

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias When Roma actress-turned-director Alina Șerban reflects on her life, rising from an impoverished background in Bucharest to become an acclaimed and groundbreaking force on stage and screen, she describes it as “an urban Cinderella story.” A review from one of her first stage shows, she says, sums it up best: “Roma actress beats the odds.” As a multi-faceted artist, Șerban has dedicated her life and career to reframing the narrative about her marginalized community.

Now she’s developing her feature-length directorial debut, “I Matter,” a deeply personal story about a young Roma woman studying to be an actor who, faced with the threat of being kicked out of her orphanage, must suddenly confront the reality of making it through life on her own. “I Matter” is among the projects being pitched this week at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, which takes places Nov.

5 – 9 during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Written and directed by Șerban, it’s produced by Ada Solomon of Bucharest-based microFILM, whose recent credits include Radu Jude’s Locarno winner “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” and his 2021 Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.” “I Matter” is based on the 2021 short of the same name, whose festival run included New Directors/New Films, the prestigious fest organized annually by Film Society of Lincoln Center and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

In it, a poor but promising Roma student is forced to overcome her insecurities and fears while also dealing with racism and prejudice at a Bucharest theater school.