Discoveries from Romania World Cinema

Two rockers are getting married.They don't want wear proper suits and shoes at the wedding. Their family and friends are talking about different aspects in organizing the wedding. Everybody seems to know whats best for them.

A movie about miner strikes in 1292 Jiu Valley. It is made from re-cutting and combining two previous movies, "Lupeni '29" and "Golgota", that were shot much earlier.

It is a documentary about mostly inner-city birds. It is meant to examine their lives in a more metropolitan context as they become increasingly tangled in our everyday lives.

Sorin comes at his former wife to spend the Christmas with their son. Under the pressure of the past conflicts, Sorin locks himself in the bathroom. Things gets out of control when family members come to see what's happening.

Tudor Vladimirescu fights against the Ottoman Turkish domination of Romania and the social agitation ,his story includes the war between Russia and Turkey from 18o6 to 1812,for which he was decorated by the Russians.

A French real estate developer prepares an old Romanian thermal resort for renovation. A Roman fresco in a crypt delays the project, so he tries to burn it down. But he locks himself in a courtyard by mistake. He stays trapped for days, the neighborhood being deserted. He tries communicating with the few remaining residents and changes from a civilized being to a beast, until finding new perspectives. Will he leave the courtyard, or not?

Inspired by the Moisei massacre in 1944 northern Transylvania.

A deceptively simple set-up: the director and his father watch a 1988 football match which the father refereed, their commentary accompanying the original television images in real time. A Bucharest derby between the country’s leading teams, Dinamo and Steaua, taking place in heavy snow, one year before the revolution that toppled Ceaușescu.

Director Eugenia Gutu offers a feminist critique of gender (in)equality under socialism in this documentary portrait of an industrializing town and its model citizen, Florica S.

Discover the unmistakable humor in "Life Tips" with Mihai Bobonete! A stand-up show full of irony and humor about everyday life and its absurdities.

A young girl harbors a secret crush (sincere and pure feelings) on a famous writer. She read his every book, so when she hears of the opportunity of delivering a gift to his house she does everything in her power to become the tansporter (and succeeds). Manea is a handsome man, not only a successful writer , women of the elite of Bucharest's society swarm around him all the time.He has just broken up with one of them... It's New Year's Eve,he invites her to spend some time with him...a dream built on snowflakes and champagne. In her naivety and pureness , Dorulet-as Manea caresses her,touches the unseen strings of his heart and soul , which he taught to be long dead,she awoke adolescence (like) emotions in the sleeping lion. I loved this movie and I would like to see it at least one more time.

Two filmmakers follow a businessman turned eco-activist as he exposes Romania's timber mafia. Their journey takes a dramatic turn when, in the middle of a forest, the three are attacked by a group of 12 angry men. The cameras are destroyed, and all footage is lost. Faced with this harsh reality, each of them tries to manage the situation as best they can, confronting their own doubts and limitations.

Follows a German art student whose research into the history of a German prisoner-of-war camp established in Romania in 1917 for African colonial soldiers leads to unexpected turmoil at her university.

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.

In 1959, in Romania, six former members of the nomenclature and the secret police organize a hold up of the National Bank. After their arrest, the state forces them to play themselves in a film which reconstitutes the crime and the investigation. At the end of their trial, filmed live, they are sentenced to death and executed. except the women, Monica Sevianu that due to the fact that she had 2 children she was punished to do hard work for life.

Two versions – an optimistic and a pessimistic one – of a sonnet by Ion Luca Caragiale turn into video landscapes. Which one do you prefer?

"Plecarea" is a story about priorities, as perceived from the perspective of a father whose professional duties tend to take over his family time.

At a theatre workshop for young people, a teenager embarks on a sexual relationship with a slightly older girl. But isn’t this all a bit of a mistake? The people around them react in various ways, yet no-one is indifferent to what’s going on.

Romania. Seven years in the life of a family of believers, struck by the illness of a little girl suffering from spina bifida pass before the camera, with a polluted town scarred by unemployment serving as a background.

Ionut and Mariana will get married soon. It's time to meet their families and to plot the happy event. In-laws seem to understand perfectly: passion for TV series unites luxury, Romanian music of the '80s and brandy. Especially brandy. As the bottles are emptied, misunderstandings begin to appear. Three couples, three visions on marriage: fast and opulence (with white doves and Holograf Fuego), traditional wedding (with musicians and tent), or a youthful? Different options, different camps. No one fails. Moreover, the two parents-in-law remember that they met once, 25 years ago. They were in different camps. Now that miraculously brought back to life to face. Follow great challenge. It takes a miracle that this wedding is to be held.

A lonely writer struggling with writer's block has an unexpected encounter with a former high school classmate and experiences something out of the ordinary.

Cinematic sketches of Tanase's adventures in Berlin, where he was invited to star in the movie. A Romanian-German co-production made at the Tobis Studio in Berlin, with Tanase co-financing from his own funds. In Romania, the film was presented as a cinematic journey of Tanase, where he then appears on stage, at the end, in dialog with his on-screen dubbing.

In a torrid summer day in Bucharest, the priest Florin Florescu is called to a dying woman's side for saying a prayer.

Directed by Moldovan director Eugen Damaschin, the documentary Moldova 89-91 presents the thread of events through which the neighboring state gained its independence with the collapse of the USSR. Thus, the film features politicians such as former presidents Mircea Snegur and Vladimir Voronin and former Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Rosca, along with many other witnesses and participants in the events of the formation of the Republic of Moldova as an independent state. And, of course, each of them has its own version of history.

Valedictorian in a flight class, he has to complete 2 years of utility aviation before going into military. He is unhappy about that and he clashes with the old commandant Bărcan.

A police satire about Aurel, a gipsy police officer, on his first day of work. He really wants to prove what he is capable of, but his career is at risk when his friend, Denzel, recruits him in his not so secret operation.

Sporadic gunshots echo among the ruins of a village which, though abandoned, is an objective of great import for the Romanian government. This forces two young men to lead a hard negotiation, both for the fate of the settlement and for their own future.

The film is the story of Prince Cantacuzin’s hidden love for his pupil he mentored since early adolescence, until her being married by her stepfather. Daria Mazu, coming from an unfortunate family, with an epileptic brother and a drunker stepfather.

A compassionate fiction-documentary about an intelligent but handicapped boy who struggles to stand up against an overprotective father and find his place in the world.

Inspired by true events, an orphaned boy raised by the regiment goes to the front in search of his best friend and faces terrifying experiences.

An unversed alien is sent on earth to fulfill his mission.

Two brothers who live in different countries after their parents' divorce reunite on the occasion of their annual trip to the mountains. Everyone's vacation and plans change radically when the children disappear on a clandestine expedition to a mountain refuge, causing panic...

Pavel has to confron his father in law, who is decided to compromise him in front of the village.

The author's grandparents were Aromanians, a Balkan minority of nomadic shepherds, without territory and written language, wandering between mountains and seas. Their story is told from the subjective point of view of the artist, who passionately reproduces in staged scenes this perpetual tragic wandering, also full of hope and courage to live.

The first ever presidential debate in Romania

For the people living on a street in downtown Bucharest, the torture has started a few days previous, when a construction site was set up on their street.

A peasant went to work in constructions for a few years in Bucharest. He's thinking of returning home, but only after overturning his father's unfair sentence.

In New Year's Eve, Dan, a pilot, picks up a stranded woman at the airport and they head together to his cabin, where they will meet unexpectedly his ex and her new partner.

Nae Girimea, a barber from a late 19th-century Bucharest neighborhood, finds a new mistress, Didina. This event sparks the insane jealousy of his 'soulmate' mistress, Mita Baston, as well as that of the violent Pampon, Didina's official lover. Caught in this whirlwind of pursuit and punishment of the daring barber, all taking place during a carnival, is also Crăcănel, Mita’s official benefactor.

Camil wakes up one night without a penis. The nightmare continues when his partner also disappears after meeting a former lover. Camil sets out to find her and - wearing female clothes - joins a secret community dedicated to fertility, somewhere near a lake. And what he finds there will prove even more disturbing than his recent misadventures...

Everything is scheduled. A strange car accident and he is late. 17 minutes. He is going to his ex-girlfriend's bar. The place is empty and quiet. He would like to rest a little.

Sunmoon is a visual experiment in "blended reality," seamlessly integrating live-action with computer-generated animation. The film follows a young woman's confrontation with her inner selves: Piper, a bionic manifestation of her doubts; Phany, an animal spirit totem; and Sunmoon, her human core. As the timer counts down, poetry and imagination become the only tools left to bridge the gap between digital isolation and human emotion.

An absurd comedy about the distance between fantasy and reality, Fericirea domnului K stars a sullen lawyer, disturbed by what he perceives as vulgarity in the world (in this case, his maid) and who has built a world for himself with a pretended air of distinction.

An original 12 minutes short film about 2 girls stuck in their dead mom's house. It takes place in the rural Romania, in Transylvania.

Soare is a musician with too little inspiration and too many neurons baked from smoking weed. One day, he decides that his life has become too chaotic, so he begins writing a guide for surviving the moments when his reality stops making sense. Passing various surreal episodes, Soare hopes to regain his inspiration.

On the day of her first anniversary with Ștefan, Ana offers him an unexpected present – she agrees to be surrogate mother for the baby Ștefan cannot have with his wife. In the end, Ștefan realizes that he wants something else, but it is far too late.

Children who are born in family feuds, automatically become grown men, from very early ages. Just because it is a traumatic reality, precisely because we don't read on their faces innocence, happiness or desire to live his childhood, but the weight that burdened his life. The 19 years old young girl is the only source of income support and family. Kiddo is passionate about boxing and the ring is her only refuge.

A visual meditation on creative sovereignty in the machine's age. A research-creation short film.

Viorel, a quiet, upright tractor driver from a small town in west Romania meets Mocanu, a high profile politician campaigning for a seat in the European Parliament. Mocanu’s car has broken down nearby and Viorel and his wife welcome the politician into their humble home. Under investigation for corruption, Mocanu sees an opportunity and decides to stay with this modest family during the rest of the campaign, winning people’s hearts by posing as a common man next to his “old friend”, the honest, hard-working farmer. In return, Viorel will get a new tractor.

It's been almost a year since Alexandra and Andrei haven't seen each other. He fulfilled his dream and became a famous actor, she has become, since taking over Grigore Varlam's company, a recognized businesswoman and threw herself desperately into work to forget and leave everything behind. Mihai is expecting a child with Maia and, head over heels in love with his wife, is far too preoccupied with his family to help Alexandra. As a result she has hired an assistant, Gabriel Duma, a man always ready to help her. She does not notice his advances and treats him as a friend and colleague.

Petru is a drilling engineer living in a community of oil industry workers. He has mixed feelings. On the one hand he is about to marry his pregnant girlfriend Laura, on the other he is involved with the wife of one of his colleagues, Sonia, the victim of a serious accident at work. His new life seems about to begin while she feels hers is ending. When Laura finds out about his relationship with Sonia, all hell breaks loose. Petru feels terrible guilt, but also responsibility for the baby-to-be.

Little Ones Describe the Big World is not so much relevant as a sample of the directorial work of filmmaker Gabriel Barta as much as it is as an example of the early writing of one of Romania’s most peculiar and prolific writers, Radu Cosașu, who, at the time, worked closely with the Sahia studio after going through a difficult patch with the political establishment. The film is structured through the father-daughter dialogue written by Cosașu to lend colour and a narrative to the aforementioned exhibition. The style of his writing combines the wit, irony, and casual tone that have become his trademark: here, however, these qualities are put to work for the benefit of the socialist state’s political agenda.

A young, underestimated team unexpectedly transforms into an unstoppable force, staying undefeated for months and fighting for promotion until the final whistle.

Portrait of a Romanian bourgeois family.

Love story between two engineers in the Bucharest subway system construction site.

An experimental reimagining of the doll test examines how a masked person internalizes fragments of femininity and masculinity.

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?