2007 Syracuse International Film Festival
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DOSSIER 2006
The official online publication of the
Syracuse International Film Festival, Vol.3
A Point of Contact Production
Ryna - Switzerland/Romania
Ruxandra Zenide, Director
(Psychological Drama/Family - 93 minutes)
Ruxandra Zenida offers a simple yet powerful exploration into the terrain of sexual identity and awakening as seen through the eyes of a 16-year-old girl on the cusp of self-discovery. Ryna, only daughter of a poor Romanian family, lives in a small village in the Danube Delta. Working in her father’s gas station, grease is Ryna’s makeup, oil her perfume, soiled trousers and T shirts her Sunday best. Ryna’s surly father, who had always longed for a son, has raised her to be a boy. His calculated attempts to strip his daughter of femininity are challenged by no one, least of all her well-intended but weak-willed mother. When a handsome Frenchman on his way to Bucharest comes through Ryna’s village, fate pierces Ryna’s confined world. His worldly presence ignites latent passion within Ryna leading her onto a fervid yet uncertain route to womanhood…and she will pay for daring to break with family and convention. A spartan script by director Zenide and Marek Epstein effectively shows us Ryna’s world. Subtle and blatant incident help to carve out her existence. This is a film ripe with potent symbolism. It is no accident that Ryna’s place of birth is a small town in the Delta where the river pours into the sea, fulfilling a cycle destined never to change. Ryna lives in a place where everyone longs for wealth that is ever out of grasp. It is a lost country where old customs die hard, and new dreams wither in the shadow of shabby values, an emotional island framed by ceaseless poverty and governed by abusive parental power. Ryna is a film rife with rich metaphor. There is are the ancient cycles of the Delta, of rippling muddy waters that mimic the rising and waning rhythms of life. There are time-honored traditions that will never change. There is the nurturing rain of a wild storm, bringing with it hope for new life. Always there is the spectre of desire…and the drives and yearnings that define the male and female persona. Skillful direction, a magical camera, and a charismatic cast bring the Ryna’s world to dramatic life.