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There is great excitement at the National Theater of Constanta. Some volunteers wearing IPIFF5 shirts great the guest at the entrance.The journalists await around  the red carpet. They wait for the beggining of the fifth edition  of the festival's award gala .It should start at 19, but there is still a little delay.

Before the gala itself a  spectacol of chorepgraphy , music and theater, "But who will dance with the piano player?" is shown. The play, directed by Tunde Baczo has only three interpreters: the director, the composer, Cari Tibor at the piano and the actor Alin State. Lights are turned off in the hall and the noise is replaced by piano voices. Tunde and Alin start of with  a duel of steps, they  use repetitive movements and words to emphasize the couples  threshold  on the verge of separation, and the music underlines every critical moment of the relationship.

During the break they are all congratulated by the public. Just like at  "Before  The end After ...", those present are  pleasantly surprised by how talented the artists are. The guests slowly enter the theathre room to exchange the last impressions from IPIFF. What producer would deserve to win, what projections impressed them and what expectations they have about  future editions. One thing is clear. This year was the best so far, despite all difficulties. The jury  must have had a very difficult time to decide on the winners.

The volunteers also go outside They  must ask the guests to enter the theatre hall . The long awaited moment of the evening is next. Just like at the projections, the applauses beggin during the official spot.Dinu Tanase, the president of the festival enters the stage to start the ceremony. It was, indeed, a dense week, with quite a few very good long and short films in competition.

First, the winners for the high school competition for students  who have something to say, "A Drop Of  Sea are announced.They area boy and a girl from Piatra Neamt, Andreea Mironiuc and Bogdan Pecetea who worked together on two productions, "Chalk" and "Domino Effect". Other applauses after watching the short one minuite films are heard.

What follows is the film school awards. Dinu Serbescu the animator, dean at the Lucian Pop Media University and the producer Vivi Dragan Vasile, go toghether on stage to announce the winners for the five categories. The award for animation goes to Ludwigsburg in Germany and the audience's laughter during the screening approve the jury's decision. The other four awards remain in the country. The screenplay, the image and the direction awards are handed to Sebastian Pop Codin  from Babes Bolyai.The short film, "Canvas" is surreal and even dough it may initially seem slow the perfect frames and strange story captivates the audience.

The trophy for "best film school" is given to the Film Faculty in Bucharest. Excited the pro-rector Manuela Cernat admits that IPIFF is their dearest festival, although the faculty has taken awards in Munich, Tel Aviv or Porto.

Dinu Tanase  returns on stage and announces an award that  he would like to make specific for the festival. The award for independent film is taken by WebSite Story,a production that seemingly will  receive many awards from now on.

The  important awards of the evening, those for the producers are next. They  quickly pass over the first two trophies, not because short animation and fiction films would not be important, but because  the two winners Cristina Nichitus and Ada Solomon, are not present.The  winner of the best documentary film "Memory in Stone", Vivi Dragan Vasile states with amusement "It's good to have friends in the jury," and he says it with the trophy in his hand.

There are only two awards to be given. Radu Gabrea ,absent from the awards, is honored by Manuela Cernat for his entire career and all he did for the Romanian cinema. There are only few minutes from the gala and ORDA Director Robert Bucur is invited on stage. He will present what many journalists in the audience waited for all night long.The prize for the best fiction film. "If I want  to whistle I whistle" says Dinu Tanase and the hall gets filled with applause. Obviously excited, Daniel and  Catalin Mitulescu come in front of the microphone, but neither can find their words. They just gently say "Thank you".

The IPIFF team has a surprise even for the volunteers. Each of the is  called  on stage while the audience stands up to applaud them.They deserve it because they worked hard all day long out of pure passion.. Next year they may be back as team members or, who knows, maybe even with a  film in competition.

 Ana Dinescu
Photo: Cristian Radu Nema