Maria Dicieanu (Romania)

Cannes 2010

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get and love, love is like oxygen, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love, or at least that’s what they say in movies. There’s so much beauty in the films… Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of the experience in the cinema.

You know it’s funny what a young girl recollects ? ’Cause I don’t remember bein’ born. I don’t recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don’t know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I went to the cinema. It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this film was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For several minutes.. . And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind movies, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Writing’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in. A film’s got personality. Personality goes a long way. The film doesn’t care how you look, if you’re wearing make-up or not. In the cinema you can just be yourself. And you know you found something special when you can just shut up for a minute and comfortably enjoy silence. And the reasons for wanting to share my cinema experiences with the world ? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when film-watching is so fulfilling ? You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry, just go into a cinema and you’ll understand. And don’t be afraid of the repercussions. After all, as Francois Truffaut said it : film lovers are sick people !

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Cast (in order of appearance) : Forrest Gump (R. Zemeckis, 1994), Moulin Rouge (B. Luhrmann, 2001), American Beauty (S. Mendes, 1999), Pulp Fiction (Q. Tarantino, 1994), What Women Want (Meyers, 2000), Trainspotting (D. Boyle, 1996).