LARS VON TRIER - EAST OF BUCHAREST WINS BEST FILM AWARD

Romanian director CORNELIU PORUMBOIU had double reason to celebrate this weekend (30SEP06) after his political film 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST clinched two top prizes at Copenhagen's Fourth International Film Festival. The movie picked up the Golden Swan for best film and Porumboiu also won the prize for best screenplay. He is the second Romanian to win at the ceremony following RADU MIHAULEANU's Golden Swan last year (05) for LIVE AND BECOME. His movie charts a comic talk-show on local Romanian television looking back at how ousted dictator NICOLAE CEAUSESCU fled Bucharest by helicopter on 22 December 1989 at precisely 12:08. Danish actress GHITA NOERBY, who chaired the jury, says, “It's a film about a major political topic, treated with seriousness and discernment but also with disarming irony and wit." The festival, which focuses on European cinema, also screened leading Danish director LARS VON TRIER's latest movie THE BOSS OF IT ALL, which local critics panned.