Discoveries from Moldova World Cinema

When a simple boundary dispute between two neighboring households escalates, a quiet Moldovan village is drawn into a chain of comic conflicts fueled by pride, old grudges, and half-told truths.

Different portraits, four short stories, four moments in time capturing the wanderings of a few souls, stuck at the crossroads of History.

Maria is a woman living with her son Marinel in a Moldovan village while waiting for her husband, who works abroad. The arrival of Felicia — her childhood friend and a soprano now living in Vienna — and Felicia’s husband Mario, disrupts the fragile balance of their quiet world.

A look into the underground world of trafficking human body parts.

Red Iron Road is an animated horror anthology series, based on the works of famous European authors. Each of the episodes are between 10-20 minutes, produced with different creative partners in unique visual styles to suit each story.

Sasha works for a natural gas company. When his wife gives birth 2 months early, Sasha is searching for money to save the premature baby. Despite this, he refuses to take bribes, which threatens his job and leads to friction with his colleagues. His wife doesn't understand him anymore. Faced with a crisis, Sasha receives an order to install a furnace in a church, where he will have to destroy an icon painted on the church wall. Hoping to save the sacred image, Sasha has to corrupt the system.

Lena is 43 and dreams of becoming a mother, often glancing at the calendar with this hope in mind. On “that very day” when things could work out, she is unexpectedly forced to travel miles away from the capital with her husband. However, they have rather different ideas about “that very day”, leaving Lena alone on the deserted winter roads of the Russian province.

Salix Caprea (“Goat Willow” tree) is the type of tree that was supposed to cover a large meadow area in a small village in the Republic of Moldova. As part of a donation from foreign investors, a couple of thousands of trees were planted by the Americans. After a couple of years, during a visit along with delegation from the state, they wanted to see the growth of the trees. In a comedic investigation, the mayor and the police officer discovered the area all empty and the “goat willow” trees were all gone, eaten by…the goats.

The poet and journalist Ladima commits suicide and his friend, Fred Vasilescu, tries to find out the reasons of those actions. In his search he discovers a mysterious Miss T.

Single mother and nurse Alina is confronted with an ethical problem when she tries to find a huge sum of money to prevent her 22-year-old son Radu from going to jail.

In 1995, retired captain Vadim returns from Romania with his fiancee Yulia to his homeland and falls into the hands of bandits controlling the town. Already on the roads of the motherland, which got out of socialism and got stuck in a mafia swamp, they witness a robbery by a gang in a police uniform of a bus with "shuttles".

At a bus stop caught between worlds, two very different birds cross paths and what starts as an innocent encounter quickly spirals into a wildly chain of events.

Somewhere in another country, mafia boss and crypto narcotics kingpin Alexis Tephlon has half the government in his back pocket. The police are powerless, because, well, have you met the local police? So our hero, Major Fartunescu, decided to do something. He took a nap. And then he put together a crack team that's unbeatable, unbribable, and stays moist and tender while remaining crispy on the outside. His partner, Captain Mothertrucker, respects him. His criminologist, Sofi Lorenu, loves him. His boss, General Drunkenwimp, likes to yell at him. His "frenemy," newscaster Milena Suck-Sexcu, investigates him. His main suspects, Alexis Tephlon and Anubis Frumos, underestimate him. But by the time he's done, his name will go down in history, way down. He's the soon to be famous...Major Fartunescu.

There is a boy living in a small town. He is secretly in love with the most beautiful girl. Besides, he has a lot of very important things to do: an endless showdown with the guys, a touching friendship with a funny poet and a crazy philosopher...

LENIN’S PAWN is a hybrid documentary with dark humor following actor Sergiu Voloc, a modern-day Don Quixote whose lonely fight against Lenin monuments across Moldova turns into an absurd confrontation with a system that rebuilds them overnight.

A talented pianist and his 8-year-old son struggle to find a place to sell vegetables at the biggest market in Moldova's 2000'. When the father seems to give up under the burden of his precarious existence, a gesture from his son brings new hope.

The Price of Sex is a documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.

Moldova in the early 90s: Dima, a tractor driver, wants to be enrolled in the military troops to take part in the local war on the Transnistrian border. Vasea, an Afghan war veteran, joins him. While on their way to the front, they find a carbonized body. The authorities ignore them and won't help them to identify the body. Dima and Vasea decide to bury the corpse according to the proper Christian rituals, but not before setting out, together with the body, on an absurd journey to discover his identity.

Andrei, recently retired, decides to go work abroad. He is about to discover that his new workplace won't be an easy one.

A film-deconstruction of a propaganda cliché and a human experience of "existence through culture" in communism. In the midst of the transition process from the old tsarist structures and the integration of Bessarabia into the national state, Romania was subjected to permanent aggressions by the Soviets. The critical threshold of these Soviet challenges to Romania was reached in September 1924 in Tatarbunar, a small fair in Cetatea Albă county, inhabited by 70% Russians and Ukrainians. Every nation has a Tatarbunar!

Why do we have so many customs and rules to see our loved ones off in the afterlife? A child fascinated by the customs of a funeral in a Moldovan village forgets about the funeral. We follow the child’s imagination assimilating the folkloric traditions, trying to understand what is going on.

Russia, Current day. Gynecologist Angela Kuhlmann finds herself in a very uncomfortable situation: she has to leave Moscow and start working within a province. The city is experiencing difficult times: because of the newly built highway to Moscow, it sinks into fornication and sin. Soon after Ms. Kuhlmann performs an illegal abortion - the patient claims to carry the Antichrist within her womb and takes the embryo home with her. From that moment on, a series of strange incidents begin to occur within her life.

A young couple takes a cab ride to the countryside, however things start to become tense.

Two young, he (Vlad) -a poor factory worker, but with profound inner experiences, admirer of Shakespeare, Nichita Stanescu and Bob Dylan, she (Jana) - a girl ready for money, live a romance. Jana, although Vlad's love, marries Alic, a young wealthy businessman.

Two families of petty crooks, one in Bucharest and the other one in Chisinau, give each a burglary. The first one from Bucharest steal a famous painting in a museum, others break the home of a rich man in Chisinau and they obtain also a valuable painting. Proudly shows off its prey: Woman with Black Tie by Modigliani. Yes, the same painting twice! Stupor and prestige wrinkling. But whose is the original and who stole the fake?—Adrian Popovici

A grumpy postman is cursed to make others happy if he wants to live.

When Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine, Moldovans raced to the borders to assist refugees, offering warm food, rides, and shelter. At the same time, a group of Moldovan filmmakers formed an ad-hoc film collective to document the unwavering efforts of volunteers and the fate of refugees through multifaceted lenses. Despite these acts of solidarity, a segment of the population's Soviet nostalgia fuels a growing fear that the country could be drawn into the war.

A poetic journey to the heart of the Ural, where the discovery of an alien creature uncovers a haunting secret.

In a village hit by drought, Dumitru starts a quest for water. Ioana, the girl who accompanies him in this pursuit, is a silent witness of the baseness of people they meet on their way.

Twelve-year-old Malika’s entire life revolves around her mom Roza: she is her friend, her world, and her pillar. But when Roza decides to remarry, Malika understands that she will have to go to her father’s house, as the Islamic tradition dictates. Malika now faces the impossible dilemma between disrupting this new marriage and keeping the life she’s used to or sacrificing her own happiness for her mother’s.

A middle-aged woman decides to overthrow the powerful oligarch who controls her country. She must stop the oligarch from stealing the people's money and making her country the poorest in Europe.

Jonah's merry journey to the fair, where he wanted to buy a barrel.

42-year-old Elena has big dreams. The beating heart of her remote Moldovan village, she organises community clean-ups, supports lonely elders, and each year dons a Santa Claus costume to bring joy to her neighbours. But beneath the suit, Elena is driven by ambition and a desire to shake things up. Her dream? To become mayor.

Nineteen-year-old Viorel lives with his mother in a remote Moldovan town. He has no great ambitions nor any illusions about life. He and his pal Goos earn a little cash through illegal activities, and Viorel is helping him fulfill his dream of flying. His mother tries to convince him to find a decent job. Eventually, Viorel begins taking control of his life.

The town of Zinkiv, where people of different nationalities and religions lived in harmony and peace in the 1950s, is actually a paradise that was not on the map of the former USSR: mysteriously, it simply "fell" out of the field of vision of the totalitarian system. The Orthodox church, Jewish synagogue, Catholic church, and Islamic heritage site—an old Turkish fortress—coexisted peacefully and naturally there.

Evangelical Christian tries to reconcile with her estranged daughter who comes to live with her because of a tough divorce but she is not willing to open up.

Kofi Kompaore, an African prince and university professor living in Moldova, is suddenly accused of human trafficking after a coup d'état takes place in his home country. Placed under house arrest in his in-laws' home in Bubuieci, Kofi confronts cultural tensions, prejudice, and corruption. Between unexpected humorous situations and moments of introspection, he fights to prove his innocence and discover the true meaning of love.

In the capital of the Republic of Moldova, children begin to disappear. Police officer Vlad, helped by his friend from the secret services, decides to find the missing children by all means, but discovers a secret that could lead to a coup d'état.

Animation short.

Maria is the prototype of the woman from Moldova: she lived her life next to a depraved, petty husband, who abused her physically and psychologically, being sure that these things are normal in society and the woman must endure and endure; she lost a child that she will carry in her life, she had to move away from the latter, leaving for work in Italy to ensure a decent life for her family. Abroad and ordeal continued abroad, but the woman endured with dignity the hard trials she was subjected to for money, which she regularly sent to her husband and daughter, hoping that she would eventually return home. After 8 years of working in the black, when she returns to her native country, Maria discovers that her husband has another family, the house in which he invested in health and the money worked abroad was sold and ... he has nothing left.

The first day of April is All Fools' Day. Watch out for the pranks.

A story of a grey man who is always sighing. Living in a smog-covered grey city, he keeps on sighing until he dries out and becomes nothing but skin and bones. But even in the darkest corners of the soul, there is light and colour.

Every day, each and every one of us produces garbage: at work, at school, at home, on a walk. Everywhere. The short film describes the journey of trash on the planet.

In a small Eastern European city, Adrian’s joyful proposal to Lena is shattered when her father firmly opposes their marriage, citing fear, responsibility, and an unfinished future. Caught between love and parental authority, the couple is forced to confront tradition, pride, and sacrifice. In the end, it is Lena’s simple, unwavering declaration of love that proves strongest—showing that love, when honest and brave, can change everything.

An alien ends up in uncle Ion's courtyard. Uncle Ion invites the alien inside and treats him as a guest, giving him wine and food. The alien decides not to destroy the Earth after seeing this hospitality.

This story is about an astronaut who, as a child, dreamed of flying and being free. And now he seems to be flying in the sky, but he is actually locked in the capsule of a spacecraft. One day, minor problems lead to bigger problems, causing the spaceship to lose control and collapse on Earth. And now the astronaut will once again spread the wings of his dreams and return to childhood.