Discoveries from Romania World Cinema

Ema is the successful TV anchor of a national TV broadcaster, the star of a popular tabloid show. A perfectionist, she has no hesitation in putting at steak her health or money for higher ratings.

In Petrila, a Romanian mining town, an ex-miner uses art and absurdism in a struggle to keep history alive.

When a young girl is found dead in a Transylvanian village, a police investigator and his assistant arrive to reconstruct the mysterious events leading to her demise. Through a series of interviews and filmed testimonies, they uncover a complex web of rural social tensions and moral failures rather than a simple accident.

Dan Chisu made a new film, while in isolation. Some of the most famous Romanian actors performed, by filming themselves with their mobile phones.

A well to do woman in the country wants a husband and an apartment in the city. But thibg do not turn as planned.

Sabin, a mailman stressed by debt, and Gheorghe, his childhood friend, end up in a neighborhood bar, gambling pension money on slot machines. Amid alcohol, conflicts erupting with the bar owner, and a local thug, the two must confront their own mistakes and limitations.

In August 1944, when Hitler's troops were leaving the territory of Romania under the onslaught of the Soviet Army, German intelligence developed a plan under the code name "Round 6", the fulfillment of which was to destroy the oil industry. But as a result of a complex and dangerous struggle, the Romanian patriots managed to destroy the intrigues of the enemies.

It was 1978 and the Romanian dictator Ceausescu was in control of the country. Artists were being prosecuted and isolated due to their "unacceptable" background and views. Amongst them stood the extremely talented musician Rodion Rosca. Although he was a radio star, his debut album was never released.

The life-story confession of a prisoner waiting for his trial. Victor Petrini, a promising intellectual in the 1950s and a lecturer in Philosophy is arrested by the repressive secret police, wrongly accused of espionage, and sentenced to prison and forced labor.

In the summer of 1962, a soldier on leave and a girl from Moscow enjoy a brief but intense love affair on the shores of the Black Sea. Their love games mesh with the games of children on the beach; their dialogues are a mixture of Romanian and Russian, humorous and lyrical at the same time. But the soldier has to return to duty, and all that's left for the girl is the hope that the two will meet again some day. The movie was banned and never released in theaters in Romania, the premiere was in Israel, 1992.

Christina's ghost haunts the mansion where she was born.

A love story between a man, a woman and his violin through the past and the present. It's a common story about life, death, passion and transmission. A cinematographic essay at the border of fiction and documentary.

Lizuca is only six years old, not much older than her pet dachshund Patrocle, when her mother dies and she is left to live with her grandparents on their farm. Before long, Lizuca's father comes to take her away to live with him and his new bride, a vile woman who considers children the bane of all existence. Lizuca and the dachshund escape the wicked stepmother and spend the night in a hollow tree, a tree that changes into an enchanted land where Lizuca (like Alice through the Looking Glass) discovers a world of characters in the form of bees, frogs, the four seasons, Snow White, her dwarves, and other fairy tale creatures. This magic place is threatened by the evil stepmother's plan to sell the grove that protects the secret land to developers -- a decision that puts the woman on trial before this perfidy can be realized.

Alex and Maria, two young corporate people, are planning a baby. But this is not simple, because the two are crushed by jobs and daily stress. Three years in a row they try to procreate on "organized" weekends, but fail miserably. Desperate, hire a surrogate mother.

The action of the movie take place in a factory and presents the conflicts between one engineer and some young workers.

even if you say you don't remember that summer light, it has been in your brain for a long time and you would recognize it immediately....in this communist-collectivist propaganda film of an artificially grotesque beauty to the point of absurdity....full-on lies and shots arranged idyllically, this is how people's perception of reality can be manipulated

Paul Vasiliu, a geologist, returns to his native village. Excavating for irrigation works gives him the opportunity to discover some valuable minerals. Now he has to convince the villagers to postpone theirs lifelong dream of having irrigations in their fields to examine if the mineral deposits are economically viable. A common communist propaganda item of those times.

Vlad is leaving for the city to start working as a bartender. On the way, he finds out that his father has suddenly got sick. Forced to come back, he finds the family bar locked and Ursu, his father, laying on a table inside.

When a young girl is found dead in a Transylvanian village, a police investigator and his assistant arrive to reconstruct the mysterious events leading to her demise. Through a series of interviews and filmed testimonies, they uncover a complex web of rural social tensions and moral failures rather than a simple accident.

After working this weekend at a factory, three friends put money together to go on an unforgettable escape to Bucharest.

In a city full of "manele", drugs and illegal car races you don't survive unless you know how to pay. Sometimes with other's lives. Young people today are trying to adapt to a world without consciousness, a world of money, unscrupulous businesses. A film-adrenaline with accents of black humor, irony at the society which is run by large rubble and where life is just a currency.

The attempt to spend a romantic anniversary at a hotel ends badly for Laura and Marius, having to return to their apartment early. At home they find that romance still exists. Unfortunately, not for them.

This movie is about a person that was convicted in the 50s by the stalinist policy of the times, then released and re-educated at the workplace in 65, as the policy changed.

A shy teacher and a versatile driver from a small vilage are gonig to town send by the mayor to bring a computer for the Mayoralty and a lavatory for the mayor, but things don't end like they suposed to.

The best workers from various factories in the communist system are rewarded a cruise on the Danube. The people in charge fight for bureaucratic reasons while the young ones are looking for adventure.

Bing and Bang, two dreamy unemployed people, wandering through Cismigiu, receive a lottery ticket as a gift from a friend. Looking for work in Snagov, they find a musical show there, then decide to return to Bucharest where they end up hungry and tired. They enter the lottery where they find out that their ticket is the winner - but they can't seem to find it.

During the Second World War, a fascist warden takes over a prison in Romania and plans to kill communist prisoners under the pretext of attempted escape during their forced transfer to another penitentiary.

The film shows the catastrophic floods in Romania in 1970.

In the desolate setting of the unfinished construction sites of the 1990s, a young girl watches a gang of homeless youth from a distance, wishing to be accepted into their fold.

Little Syria follows the quest of a brother, his sister and her boyfriend, trapped between a Syria from which they ran for their lives, and a Europe which seems at times to embrace them and at others to push them back. In the time of making of this film, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes. Syrians asked for asylum in more than 130 countries. Reem, Mohammed and Yasser try to make sense of what is left of the Syrian Revolution. Little Syria is a confidential insight into the invisible lives of Syrian refugees.

In Communist Romania, an Orthodox priest, ex-political prisoner, becomes the only voice that can be heard in an oppressive silence. His sermons represent a spiritual revolution and a calling towards a national awakening. the hierarchy of the church betrays him and the atheist state send him to prison. father gheorghe calciu dumitreasa becomes the symbol of the resistance in front of the demon with ideological face.

A motel manager pushes his unmotivated son to get some good positions, greasing in the right places.

The director and her father take a camera in hand and film each other during interviews in which they discuss schizophrenia, their own pasts, and their personal conceptions of happiness. The film is a personal statement of two people affected by or marked by a mental disorder - a father forced to live with it and a daughter who had to grow up with a sick and often absent father. During filming, they try to find understanding for each other while revealing their inner traumas. One of the secondary topics is what it is like to undergo treatment for a mental disorder in Romania, as the father expresses frustration with the way he and his condition are viewed by the local healthcare system.

At a party with diverse guests are dealing with the events os August 23rd, 1944. Guests are serving as metaphors for different parts of society.

Decebal left Romania 8 years ago and now his family virtually attends his wedding in New York via Skype.

In the household of a wealthy Romanian noblewoman in 1855, Maria, a Roma-Gipsy slave, fights to obtain freedom for her son Dinca. Part of a future full-length project, the short film presents a day in the household in which Maria and her son, Dinca, serve as slaves. As important guests arrive for dinner and all the slaves are making preparations, Maria and her son see this day as a chance to take a step to change their fate. During slavery time, up until 1856, the Romanian equivalent of the word "forgiveness" was used when referring to freeing someone from slavery (the Roma slave was "forgiven" from slavery).

Six carpenters from Maramureș go to a village in Bărăgan to build some stables. These are the head of the family, 4 brothers and their sister, Mara. Her beauty attracts local suitors.

The eruption of an oil well is much needed for the survival of the workers and their families living nearby.

This film si about the sabotage of a Nazi fluvial transport on the Danube during WWII.

When her fiancé’s mistress crashes her wedding, Bianca flees the scene, launching a real-time odyssey of chaos and eventual liberation through an off-season seaside resort.

Another series of short stories about bottles.

After her sister's tragic suicide, Anna is determined to uncover the truth about what led to her sibling's death. In her pursuit of answers, she creates an intricate plan involving her sister's five artist contacts, placing them in a celebrity rehabilitation center. As she pushes them to confront their past actions and take responsibility for their mistakes, Anna starts to uncover hidden truths related to her sister's passing.

A judge is tasked to investigate a mining accident.

A young country girl is seduced by a mysterious man, and their relationship takes a dramatic turn when she learns he is not what he seems.

When young Daria enters rehab to kick the drug habit her first love left her with, her perceived innocence saves her from the sexual advances of the mostly male junkies inside and gains her their protection. Suddenly thrown into the spotlight and enjoying the attention, Daria soon finds out that special treatment comes at a great price.

Two brothers wander on a deserted beach, through sun-burnt sand, through waves that swallow bodies. A door between them, King Lear on the portable.

How do we carry on living, afterwards. When we've grown up under a dictatorship, when we shaped our lives under a dictatorship. When it's part of us. Second part of a trilogy about Romania after Stella (2007).

Teenager Mihai decides one night to pay a visit to Cristina, one of his classmates that he is madly in love with. On the way, he goes through a series of adventures that change him irreversibly.

In WWI a group of Romanian soldiers from Transylvania desert the german army and consitute a resistance commando group.

A trio of quirky lifelong friends create a makeshift family, but their tight bond is tested when one of them falls in love with a writer.

Moldova. One winter day, Raisa travels into the city hoping to get something that could change her life.

Young Filip tries to figure out how to live in a world full of compromise and corruption.

NELU, a man in his forties, works as a security guard in the local supermarket in Salonta, a small town on the Romanian-Hungarian border. This is the place where many illegal emigrants try to cross, by any means posible, to Hungary and then further to Western Europe. One morning, NELU will “fish” something different out of the river: a Turkish man trying to cross the border. Not able to communicate verballly, the two men will somehow understand each other. NELU takes the stranger to the farmhouse, gives him some dry clothes, food and shelter. He doesn’t really know how to help this stranger. The Turkish man gives NELU all the money he has on him so he will help him cross the border. Eventually, NELU takes the money and promises he will help him cross the border tomorrow, MORGEN…

In Communist Romania, an Orthodox priest, ex-political prisoner, becomes the only voice that can be heard in an oppressive silence. His sermons represent a spiritual revolution and a calling towards a national awakening. the hierarchy of the church betrays him and the atheist state send him to prison. father gheorghe calciu dumitreasa becomes the symbol of the resistance in front of the demon with ideological face.

A teenager has problems coping in school in family. She doesn't feel she fits anywhere, but there are still some people that give her hope and strength.

An old man is in need of a surgery. He goes to the hospital pushed by his wife who has arranged everything. What it should be a simple medical intervention turns into a meeting with the destiny. Will the old man understand the meaning of this encounter?