The Rumanian director, Andrei Ujică, combines the rise and fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu – initially lauded as the man who would steer Rumania into the modern era, later hated as a cruel dictator. For more than twenty years Ceauşescu ruled his people with an iron hand until, on 25th December 1989 met his inglorious end at the hands of a firing squad.

Ujică collected historical documentary material and mounted it to portray an alienating political satire. We do not see an objective reproduction of the facts but a compilation of images controlled by the censor, intended to disseminate the image of Ceauşescu as an infallible ruler and standard-bearer for Communism.

… unequalled documentary … It is first-class irony … a complex, universal and topical story of he operation of leadership and mass psychology … daring, virtuoso and above all a very relevant documentary. (Filmotaal *****)

After all, a dictator is simply an artist who is able to fully put into practice his egotism. It is a mere question of aesthetic level, whether he turns out to be Baudelaire or Bolintineanu, Louis XVI or Nicolae Ceauşescu. (Andrei Ujică)

► The film will be introduced by the Romanian professor Basile Neacsa. He will talk about "What is a dictator?", focusing on "the rise and fall" of Nicolae Ceausescu. Neacsa is teaching at the ISIRP (Institute for Studies in International Relations and Public Policy) in Brussels / Liège and at the University of Boecharest.

► with Rumanian fingerfood (come hungry, leave satisfied)