EPOS, the International Art Film Festival, is the first film festival in Israel to be wholly devoted to the interaction between the arts and the cinematic art. Now in its second year, the 2010 festival includes 50 films – both feature and documentary films – 36 of them from around the world, six Israeli films (two of them will have their world premier at the festival) and six short films.
The Romanian cinema is represented by the documentary The World According to Ion B. (Romania 2009) Alexander Nanau's film presents the story of Ion Barladeanu, who changed within a year from being a homeless man living on the streets of Bucharest to a world-renowned artist, whose work has been exhibited alongside that of Andy Warhol.
For Ion B., the journey from the streets of Bucharest to the galleries of Europe has finally granted him recognition.
"I feel as if I have been born again," he said, as some of France's leading collectors and curators jostled for position to see his collages. "Now I feel like a prince. A pauper can become a prince. But he can go back to being a pauper too." (The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/26/homeless-romanian-artist/print)
Screenings: 24 November, 18:00 - Kibbutz Baram (Bar-David Museum) 25 November, 15:30 - Tel Aviv (Zoa House, ZOA1) With the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv.
In March 2010, The World According to Ion B. won the Gopo prize for best documentary film. The film is currently on tour in various international festivals and has won a prize at the 38th International Emmy® Awards (Arts Programming).
The film was produced by HBO Romania and Alexander Nanau Production in association with Avro-Netherlands, YLE Teema and SVT Sweden. HBO CE: "probably our best documentary in the past year was The World According To Ion B."
