California Dreamin’ wins Un Certain Regard award at Cannes

Romania is definitely a rising star in the film world, especially in Cannes. After the Un Certain Regard award was given to The Death of Mr. Lazarescu a couple of years ago, the jury of the 2007 edition of the Cannes Festival, which wraps today, decided to give the coveted award to another Romanian feature. The winner was California Dreamin’ (Endless) by Christian Nemescu, who died at the age 27 in a car accident when the film was in post-production. California Dreamin’ uses as background the 1999 war in Kosovo. A NATO train transporting military equipment without official documents is stopped in a small Romanian village by the chief of the railway station, who happens to be the local gangster as well. Their arrival changes the place into the village of all opportunities.