La Gomera
2019, 97 min.

Awards and selections: Cannes Film Festival 2019 – Official Competition; 2020 Academy Awards – Romania’s submission for Best International Feature Film
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Cast: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazăr, Antonio Buil, Agustí Villaronga
Country: Romania, France, Germany, Sweden

[IN-PERSON SCREENING]

When the police are listening in, it’s best to start… whistling.

A master of the Romanian New Wave takes us on a holiday from seriousness – and not just anywhere, but to La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands. This is where a corrupt, gloomy Bucharest cop arrives to learn the secrets of el silbo, the island’s traditional whistling language. It allows him to communicate with the mafia and plan a kidnapping while evading police surveillance. His teachers are a local gangster and a mysterious, dark-haired femme fatale.

Unpredictable and fast-paced, constantly slipping into new genres, “The Whistlers” twists and tangles its narrative threads. Corneliu Porumboiu’s crime comedy proves that anyone who takes themselves deadly seriously is simply ridiculous.

In the media

«It is a gangster comedy with an absurd premise and an even more absurd finale. At the same time, it is an exceptionally subtle satire of various forms of institutionalised hypocrisy.»
— Michał Walkiewicz, Filmweb, read the full review

«The Whistlers is the spiritual heir to that linguistic anti-crime film (…). Porumboiu is perfectly aware of this, yet, in his own style, remains restrained and shades the humour in his distinctive way.»
— Dawid Smyk, Pełna Sala, read the full review

Corneliu Porumboiu

One of the most important figures of the Romanian New Wave. His debut “12:08 East of Bucharest” (2006) won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, while subsequent films – including “Police, Adjective” (2009), “The Treasure” (2015) and “The Whistlers” (2019) – confirmed his distinctive blend of absurdity, humour and social observation. His films often examine language, institutions and mechanisms of power.

Tags: Romanian New Wave, mafia, police, black comedy, absurdity

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