Mircea Cărtărescu is touring North America to celebrate the launch of his remarkable novel Blinding, beautifully translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter. 

• Chicago – October 14, 7 – 9pm: at Chopin Theater
• Chicago – October 15, 4:30 – 6:30pm: at the Franke Institute (University of Chicago)

Mircea Cărtărescu was born in 1956 in Bucharest, Romania. One of the foremost contemporary novelists and poets of Romania’s 1970s “Blue Jeans Generation,” his work was always strongly influenced by American writing in opposition to the official Communist ideology. Cărtărescu is the winner of the Berlin International Prize, the Romanian Writers’ Union Prize, the Romanian Academy’s Prize, the Swiss Leuk Spycher Preis, the Serbian Grand Prize for International Poetry, the 1992 nominee for the Prix Mèdicis, among other awards. His Nostalgia was published by New Directions. He currently lives in Bucharest.

Sean Cotter’s translations from the Romanian include Liliana Ursu’s Lightwall and Nichita Danilov’s Second-hand Souls. His essays, articles, and translations have appeared in Conjunctions, Two Lines, and Translation Review. His translation of Nichita Stănescu’s Wheel With a Single Spoke was the 2013 winner of the Best Translated Book Award in Poetry. He is Associate Professor of Literature and Literary Translation at the University of Texas at Dallas, Center for Translation Studies.
 
Praise for Mircea Cărtărescu

“Cărtărescu’s themes are immense…. They reveal to us a secret Bucharest,
folded into underground passages far from the imperious summons of history,
which never stops calling to us.”
Le Monde (France)

“Cărtărescu’s phantasmagorical world is similar to Dalí’s dreamscapes.”
Kirkus Reviews

“Gripping, impassioned, unexpected–
the qualities that the best in literature possesses.”
Los Angeles Times Book Review

“If George Lucas were a poet, this is how he would write.”
New York Sun

“Reality has become promiscuous. Seldom have we seen Eros and Thanatos in such an obscene embrace…”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung

A weekend filled with film and folklore

Chicago, IL - August 27, 2013 - Romanian Cultural Exchange (ROCX), a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting creative programs and projects focused on intercultural and educational exchange, invites you to celebrate Romania’s rich culture of film and folklore at the 5th edition of the Romanian Film Festival of Chicago. The event takes place at Facets Multi-Media, located at 1517 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago, IL between Friday, September 20th and Sunday, September 22nd 2013.

Romanian cinema has transformed over the years to portray the country and its people for who they really are. This new wave of Romanian cinema has been gaining international recognition over the past decade for its authenticity and original style. Join us as we tell tales of folklore from our rich past, while celebrating how far we have come. The Romanian Cultural Marathon includes honored guests such as renowned Romanian actor, director and caricaturist, Horatiu Malaele, as well as New York based Romanian filmmaker, George Bogdan Apetri. The later made his directorial debut with ‘Outbound’ (Periferic). Funded in part by Romania’s National Centre for Cinema, the film was selected for the New Directors/New Films festival at MoMA and the Lincoln Center, and at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, it won the top prize, the Best Feature Film Award, as well as the Greek Film Critics Association Award.

The opening night of the Romanian Cultural Marathon will kick off with the recital ‘I am Blind’ directed by Malaele. After being very well received at the Comedy Theater in Bucharest, Romania, the show became a huge success all over Europe. Event attendees will also be able to participate in a Q&A session with our special guests. Saturday, September 21st, the cultural marathon will continue with a Puppet Show to foster the next generation of cultural enthusiasts. Both shows will be performed entirely in Romanian.

Screenings include the following films and shorts: ‘Happy Funerals’ (2013) by Horatiu Malaele, ‘From Now On’ (2011) by Dorian Boguta, ‘Adalbert’s Dream’ (2011) by Gabriel Achim, ‘Superman, Spiderman or Batman’ (2011) by Tudor Giurgiu, ‘Outbound’ (2010) by Bogdan George Apetri, ‘Wedding in Bessarabia’ (2009) by Nap Toader, and lastly ‘An Unforgettable Summer’ (1994) by Lucian Pintilie. All of the movies and shorts presented have received several important awards in the previous years and will have English subtitles.

This event was made possible by the generous support of the following sponsors: Romanian Government - The Department for Romanians Abroad, City Habitat Realty, Ro Act Theater, Law Office of Dan Alic, and 220 Communications.

Seating is limited. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.romanianculturalexchange.org/romanian-cultural-marathon-2013.html.

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About the Films:

‘Happy Funerals’ (2013) by Horatiu Malaele
Synopsis: Three heavy boozers - a Romanian, a Russian and a Bulgarian are tripling away their... happiness into vodka, at a joint called ‘The Happy Immigrant’, kept by a Turk. The crowd at this venue is made out of survivors of the Babel Tower: immigrants who chose Romania as their country of possibilities. A police raid chases away the pub's barflies. While on the run, the three professional boozers stumble upon a fortuneteller who specializes in no other than: death prediction. The rest is pure entertainment! Although we are all indebted to one death, some refuse to pay this debt. Who wants to die when it’s written in the cards for them or merely predicted?

‘Outbound’ (2010) by George Bogdan Apetri
Synopsis: After two years in prison, Matilda is granted a 24-hour temporary release. Not willing to return, she plans to escape, flee the country and start afresh. But before the day is over, Matilda must reconnect with her troubled past - the family who rejected her, her estranged ex-lover and, most of all, the kid she left behind. The struggle for a new life reminds her that freedom may be just one choice away.

‘Adalbert's Dream’ (2011) by Gabriel Achim
Synopsis: Adalbert’s Dream is a black comedy based on a real story that happened in a Romanian communist factory in the 80’s. A work accident is re-enacted, but the re-enactment turns into a new accident: the worker playing the victim gets his hand cut off, as well. This latest triumph of the Romanian New Wave is set near the end of Ceausescu’s dictatorship against the backdrop of Romania’s finest moment in soccer: the victory of ‘Steaua’ Bucharest over Barcelona during the 1986 European Cup Final.

‘Wedding in Bessarabia’ (2009) by Nap Toader
Synopsis: ‘Wedding in Bessarabia’ is a story of a young couple who recently got married in Romania. He is a young conductor from Bucharest and she is a gifted pianist from the Republic of Moldova. One day, they decide to have another wedding in Moldova, hoping to get the money to pay the account for a new apartment. The movie exploits the difference of traditions and habits between Romania and Bessarabia, and a sort of a competition which arises between the families involved.

‘An unforgettable summer’ (1994) by Lucian Pintilie
Synopsis: In 1925 Romania, young Marie-Therese Von Debretsy refuses the flirtatious advances of her husband's commanding officer. As a result, the cosmopolitan family is reassigned to a brutally bleak and dangerous outpost on the Bulgarian/Romanian frontier where both their relationship and humanity are severely tested. The film is presented on a small scale and, ironically, is told through the eyes of the young son, who simply remembers this as "an unforgettable summer," possibly the best summer he ever had.

ROCX is proud to partner with the Romanian Consulate General, Upwardly Global, Ericson Consulting Group, Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies - University of Illinois at Chicago, and the City of Chicago, Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) and offer topics most relevant to the Romanian community. 

Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 6:30PM
Alliance Francaise de Chicago 
54 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free Admission
Please don't forget to sign up with the ALLIANCE FRANCAISE WEBPAGE

ROCX is proud to host for the third consecutive year, the Romanian Soiree at the Alliance Francaise Festival de la Francophonie.

Please join us for a glass of wine (or several ;)... and a taste of Romanian culture featuring a photo exhibition by Elena Simona Craciun, live performances by:
Horatiu Ormindeanu aka H. Dean (violin)
Laura Sisu (guitar)
Doru Bandila (fluier)
special appearance of VOX MARIS - unplugged 
following the screening of:

Superman, Spiderman or Batman (2011, 11 min.)
European Film Academy Best Short Film of 2012
By Tudor Giurgiu
(In Romanian with English subtitles)

Synopsis: Aron, a 5-year-old boy, sets together with his worried father on a journey at the end of which he wishes, like the superheroes in the comic books, to save his mother suffering from a heart condition

Event photography will be provided by Ema & Silviu Photography.

Friday, March 8, 2013 at 6:30PM
Alliance Francaise de Chicago 
54 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
$20 Admission / $10 Students / Free 5 years and under.

Do you have your passport ready? The Swiss have their cheese, the Haitians bring their bouillon, but nothing beats the smell of sarmale and mamaliga. Come support Romanian culture and tradition as we celebrate Festival de la Francophonie!

Enjoy food and libations from Romania as well as Belgium, Canada, Congo, France, Haiti, Quebec and Vietnam offered by our partners, the French-speaking consulates, governments and associations of Chicago. And what better way to work off the extra calories than by dancing to the sound of French swing music with Le Percolateur?

Prix de présence, concours de danse, bouffe et tutti quanti... Que la fête commence!

And by all means, make sure to stop by the Romanian pavilion to taste the delicatessen prepared by Diana Krastev and to say hello to the ROCXettes!

Better early than sorry, please pre-register! All age event / ID required. For reservation information call: (312) 337-1070 or register online with Alliance Francaise. Please note that registrations for cultural programs are non-refundable. You can find additional info on Alliance Francaise's website.

ROCX is partnering with Theatre Y (www.theatre-y.com) to present a special evening of theater followed by a wine reception and an intimate discussion with the artists on November 9th, 2012 at 8pm. Additionally, it will be our honor to host a very special guest for the evening, the playwright and director of the Cluj Hungarian Theatre, Andras Visky.

Set in Romania, in the months just preceding the 1989 revolution, “PORN” is one of the first plays to use the newly released secret police files of the Ceausescu regime as its chief source.  The author was inspired by things that happened to people very close to him and the play was born out of the merging of two real stories. Time and again they transform into fiction, not just because time becomes history, but because of the extremely terrifying “virtuality” of the very end of the 1980s.

As always, Visky’s work is simultaneously rooted in a very specific time and place, extraordinarily personal, and profoundly universal.  It speaks about the “pornography of politics” and the theft of life, with the poetry and childlike belief, or disbelief, for which Visky’s writing is known.  It follows the untamable freedom of one simple woman, the stray children who feast with her, and the men that find her perfect, crazy, or dangerous. It is an unbridled romp through the unavoidable dictatorships of civilized society.

In Remembrance of the Revolution.
Which Revolution?
The Revolution.

RO ACT THEATRE in stransa colaborare cu “DRAMA INC.” din Timisoara si compania de teatru “BECOME” din Sibiu au ales sa va incante in aceasta seara Carageliana cu celebrele schite “Amicii”, “CFR” si “Caldura Mare”.

Astfel, actorii Catalin Nicolae, Ioan Marcu si Sergiu Gobjila reprezentand RO ACT THEATRE din Chicago vor juca alaturi de Radu Vaduva (“Drama Inc.”) si Adrian Grigoras (“Become”).

ROCX is partnering with City Winery to present Fanfara Ciocarlia to Chicago audiences. Fanfara Ciocarlia is one of the world's foremost Gypsy brass band, and they have gone on to create a furious Balkan funk that has set the planet dancing. 

Even by world music standards, the success of Fanfara Ciocarlia comes out of leftfield: the band members were peasant farmers and factory workers, men who played at weddings and baptisms for extra lei yet were not lautari (the caste designating professional Gypsy musician in Romania ). 
Rooted in the soil of their native Moldavia, the music Fanfare make is relentless in its tempo and ferocious in delivery, music powered by great spirit and a desire to include everyone in the party. 

They rave, they roar, they rage! Wherever and whenever Fanfara Ciocarlia blow their cheeks, nobody stands still – no matter how cool they pretend to be! Their instruments, bearing the marks of the previous decades, have lost their shine and gained their own patina. With them Fanfare Ciocarlia set off a musical firework display, displaying an unbelievable talent for intricate rhythms and dizzy tempos. Traditional Romanian dances and rhythms from Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia are played on horns, trumpets, clarinets and timpani. 

Come join us as we dance the night away! Use the promotional code "ROCXCW" when purchasing your tickets to let them know you're with ROCX! 

More about Fanfara Ciocarlia here.

Personal note:
We fell in love with Fanfara Ciocarlia when we heard their music in the great Romanian movie Asfalt Tango. Listen to our favorite soundtrack song here. 

Sunday, July 8th at 7 pm
Brandenburg Room at the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center
4740 North Western Avenue, Chicago, IL
Free admission - please RSVP

The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York in partnership with the ROmanian Cultural eXchange (ROCX) and the Romanian Consulate in Chicago is pleased to present to Chicago audiences EMINESCU, a special event of poetry and music performed by legendary actor Ion Caramitru and clarinetist Aurelian-Octav Popa.
This tour is in Romanian only.

ICR New York are placerea de a prezenta publicului romanesc din SUA pe legendarul actor Ion Caramitru acompaniat de clarinetistul Aurelian-Octav Popa intr-un recital extraordinar EMINESCU in limba romana, ce include selectii din manuscrisele de poezie, proza si filosofie ale lui Mihai Eminescu. Cei doi artisti revin in Statele Unite dupa succesul deosebit repurtat in 2011 de turneul organizat de ICR New York in randul comunitatilor romanesti din New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Montreal si Toronto, succes care a marcat si includerea spectacolului in repertoriul Teatrului National din Bucuresti.
Anul acesta ICR New York va oferi diasporei romanesti din Statele Unite ocazia sa se intalneasca din nou cu Ion Caramitru si poezia lui Eminescu intr-un turneu extins pe coasta de vest a SUA, ce va include reprezentatii in New York, Easton CT, Chicago, Los Angeles si San Francisco.

Spectacolul va avea loc in Chicago duminica, 8 iulie, incepand cu orele 7 pm, la DANK Haus German American Cultural Center si este organizat in colaborare cu ROmanian Cultural eXchange (www.romanianculturalexchange.org) si cu sprijinul Consulatului General al Romaniei la Chicago.

IMPORTANT
Spectacolul se desfasoara in limba romana
Intrarea este libera in limita locurilor disponibile. Rezervari prealabile sunt necesare.