The Graduate Program in Film has invited York graduate student Tudor Voican to show the award-winning film he co-wrote, California Dreamin’ , on Thursday evening.
Winner this year of the Cannes Festival’s Un Certain Regard prize, California Dreamin’ was inspired by a real incident in 1999 involving NATO troops during the war in Kosovo (see YFile June 7). The script, by Voican and director Christian Nemescu, tells the story of a group of American soldiers who are transporting, by train, a radar system headed for Yugoslavia via Romania. At a small Romanian village, the railway station master, 
a local thug named Doiaru, detains them because they lack the requisite customs documents. Held up for five days, the Americans, led by Captain Jones (Armand Assante), interact with the villagers, some of whom exploit the situation for their own ends.
Left: Romanian teenager Monica (Maria Dinulescu) with American soldier (Jamie Elman) in a scene from California Dreamin'
One of the soldiers even has a steamy romance with Doiaru’s beautiful teenaged daughter Monica. (The film’s title comes from the song of the same name by the 1960's band, The Mamas and the Papas, that Monica recites in the film.) At the end of the film, the Americans leave unscathed, after having stirred up a violent conflict in the village and raised expectations that they do not fulfill.
The screening will take place in The Price Family Theatre, Accolade East Building, on Thursday, July 19 at 6:30pm.