Discoveries from Romania World Cinema

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.

Story of a boy that disappears and the militia officer that investigates the case.

A satire of artificiality in advertising, especially surprising due to the moment when it was made, in the mid 1980s. The ironic clichés anticipate the sexualized imagination of the 1990s: young women biting lasciviously from a piece of chocolate that melts on their face, lovers sipping allusively on a champagne, the cork of which pops under pressure. Advertising is, at the same time, a tribute to the efforts of the shooting crew, forced to work in difficult conditions - that are hyperbolized in the film - and to find all sorts of ingenious solutions so that the implausible situations they present look as polished and as desirable as possible.

Three bored teens, whose testy fights get settled by a giant teddy bear on the street, share stories of their tense home lives one summer night.

In August 1983, architect Dinu Neagu together with his wife and two children, a boy and a girl, are on a beach of nudists near an industrial area. He is arrested and taken to Bucharest police office, where he is imprisoned in a cell together with Vali, a collaborator of the Security Service.

A surrealist drama about a 40-year-old criminal court judge with a dying father, an unhappy marriage and petty cases to solve - shown as struggle between ANDI, the animal within, and K, his rational side.

After 1394 King Mircea the Elder, ruler of Wallachia, ponders the eventual consequences of a military alliance with the Poles versus one with the Turks.

The story of Galax, a robotic 'man-doll', artificially created out of wood and computer circuitry, Appearing to come to life, it becomes a rival for the affections of Marie, a young student and an issue for university authorities.

Water, earth, air, fire – and two children at the height of summer.

A parody of the movie "The High Schoolers" (1986), in our generation.

A bourgeois family life in Romania around the time of the Great Peasant Uprising of 1907.

A trilogy of stories: Besides her daily work, mother Doina tries to manage the renovation of the family's apartment. Her son Alex can hardly find any time for both the renovation and his girlfriend as the deadline for his Master's thesis comes close. His grandmother Flori insists on trying to help the family although her support is not always welcome.

Based on Ion Creanga's book, the story of a child from his childhood to his manhood.

The Museum of the Revolution in Belgrade is actually a building that remained unfinished for 60 years and 'inhabited' only by the homeless and marginalized. The director observes the precarious (but proud) daily life of a girl and her mother around the symbolic ruins of a utopia.

Two parallel stories about unhappy marriages that take place during inter-war period in the Banat village within Romanian ethnic minority in Serbia.

The adventures of a group of children who spend a few days at a camp in the Danube delta in summer. The story combines an introduction to kayaking and survival in the wilderness with garbage collection activities in a nature reserve... until the children come across a group of poachers who use illegal fishing methods.

A comedy love story that takes place at a ski resort during romanian communism time!

After an interview, Ana misses her best friend. Yet the past they've shared together means more than just a friendship.

The out-of-time ambiance of Sulina/Europolis between wars is shaken up by the arrival of a former local from America.

March 4, 1977. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Romania, leaving over 1,500 dead, dozens of buildings destroyed, and thousands more damaged. Immediately afterward, under the direct guidance of the communist state apparatus, the assessment and consolidation of the affected buildings begins.

In a small village in the Republic of Moldavia, an old woman dies, leaving her son Petru and her granddaughter Anisoara behind. According to their tradition, the whole village mourns and bids farewell. After the death watch during a stormy night they make their way to the cemetary. The old men carry the heavy coffin over stony paths up to the sacred hill. The sun is high and the way seems endless, but against the thirst there is wine and against the grief there is singing. So in this landscape of paradisal beauty, joy mixes with sorrow and in the end, life stands above death

CIA black sites on Romanian soil from 20 years ago merge the Frankenstein monster.

A police major is investigating a gangster.

A film director undergoes the traumatic experience of the death of his young daughter. But the artistic use of personal life comes with its own cost.

After recovering in hospital from an assault by one of his subordinates, Second Lieutenant Roșu returns to lead his anti-aircraft artillery unit during the final days of World War II.

Meda, a thirteen years old girl, was raised up in modest conditions but with love in a country family, under maternal assistance legal conditions. When the mother, owner of the maternal assistance certificate, dies, Meda has to return to the orphelinat, against here will. The widower, behaving more than a true loving father, fights with all around him, authorities and people, in order to keep Meda and take care of her.

Marta, a woman battling dementia, seeks refuge from the harsh reality of her illness and the confines of a nursing home. As her memories blur, she retreats into the warmth of her happiest moments, where the past offers the only escape from a world that no longer feels like her own.

Artim's parents made a strange decision, turning their own son into a girl. Now the boy has two parallel identities: one day he is a boy, the other day he is a girl...

In 1943 in a Romanian fishing village on the river Danube brothers Pavel and Simion compete for the love of Lia while the war is raging on.

Vlad, a museographer's son, meets a living Alexandru Cuza in a gallery of Romanian heroes. Together they visit historical figures like Saint Andrew and Vlad the Impaler at pivotal moments in their lives.

An island on a lake in the middle of the city. A suspended space where Ana is going running every day. It is there that she tries to unwind, to reconnect with herself, with her memories. But this island will also become a territory of transcendence, where Ana will find the strength to leave a painful past behind.

A young man who idolizes Spiderman dons a homemade costume to become "Spider-Boy"

Animated advertisement for ADAS, the State Administration of Insurances.

Andrei works at a car-wash. Due to a series of unfortunate events he gets fired. This is terrible news for Andrei, as he is getting married soon. At home he and his future wife argue and Andrei invents a story in order to avoid the fight. Who knew this was going to be a bad idea?

Life unfolds chaotically for a young athlete after he injures his knee.

Mara, a 12 year old who is ill, embarks on a fantastic adventure filled with hope. She discovers a magical tree located near a palliative care center that is a portal to her favorite story: the book of Ion Creanga, "Childhood Memories".

Historical movie based on the "The Martens Brothers" (Romanian: Frații Jderi) novel. Ionut is the youngest son of Commissar Jder, a trusted man of Stephen the Great. He falls in love with Nasta, the daughter of a boyar, and competes for her affections with Alexăndrel, the ruler's own son. His longing for Nasta gives impetus to Ionuț, who, together with his brothers, puts his life at the service of Moldavia.

Engineer Bunea, a site manager, neglects his personal life in favor of his professional duties. But going through a crisis of conscience, he wants to give up the responsibilities of his job and tries to find a more peaceful job.

A telephone repairman sits down at the table of a woman who is tactfully petting a puppy and begins to tell her some bizarre dreams. In a register of absurd comedy, the two analyze the young man's dreams.

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.

Ten young women who used to live on the streets of Bogotá close their eyes and conjure Alis. This documentation of delicate conversations depicts the imaginary friend evolving into a surface for the projection of personal experiences and a proxy for nascent dreams.

After 1950, when the comunist regime is fully entrenched, some Bourgeois descendants have to make a living being movie extras. Continuation of "On the Left Bank of the Blue Danube"

Corina, a victim of human trafficking, returns home and tries to get back to the life she had before she left for Italy.

Major Smith, a British intelligence officer, receives an assignment to transport to England a professor of the University of Bucharest, a geologist who has discovered a deposit of uranium ore in Romania. However, the professor suddenly disappears. To find him, the British devise a complex operation. In turn, German intelligence decides to use the results of the British. But there is a third interested party - Romanian patriots. They are relentlessly following the actions of the two intelligence agencies, trying to protect the professor and his discovery. With their help, the Romanian police commissioner manages to arrest the whole gang of spies.

A man stands outside an apartment building, lighting a cigarette. He goes inside. As he rings the bell at the 4th floor, a woman answers and lets him in. The alarm rings. The man and woman wake up. He takes out the garbage. She makes breakfast. After breakfast, he packs his suitcase and leaves. He goes outside. He lights a cigarette. After that, he goes inside. He rings the bell at the 8th floor. A woman answers and lets him in. A week later. The alarm rings. The man and woman wake up. He takes out the garbage. She prepares him breakfast. He goes back inside and rings the bell at the 4th floor... Written by Bram Wijngaarden

After a long period of not talking to each other, Ana, freshly out of med-school, reunites with her mother by the seaside, to rekindle the relationship. In the pursuit of retrieving some of her very early memories, she begins to understand and fill in some gaps from her upbringing. The trip along this memory lane will unfold things left unsaid for too long. A story about family ties, love and miscommunication.

An alien stuck on Earth because of the pandemic sends a report to the base of her home planet, through which she shares thoughts on people, dreams and trees.

A middle-aged couple gets settled in an isolated house, on a barely accessible mountain ridge. Ana's health condition led to this change of lifestyle, and the couple tries to cope with this new situation.

Inspired by Derek Jarman’s Section 28 installation, the film compares stories from a recent history of the Romanian queer community with current personal experiences, linking them to lyrical observations about a still hidden present.

A few years before Kubrick in "2001", although in a more farcical way, Ion Popescu-Gopo shows the evolution of a strange creature named man from the time he started to rub flint stones to nowadays when he has managed to split the atoms.

Victor Rebengiuc is an unknown actor from Bucharest. He is called to audition for a "miracle lotion" commercial. A satire about the actors' problems in Romania.

Three men go into a pub. The first man has too many questions. The second man has the perfect plan. The third man has no chance.

Lovebirds Radu and Mădălina are taking a trip together to her parents'. On the way, they pick up a hitchhiker, who becomes their friend.