Discoveries from Romania World Cinema

Robert is a complete loser. He wants nothing from life except one thing; to have enough courage to kill himself. But one day everything changes, because Robert saved a man's life.

Adapted from a folk legend, it tells the story of a bad-tempered nobleman and his chronically useless younger son - who dreams of being the mythical hero Harap Alb.

A bunch of young people, more or less hippies, waste time at the cinema with a dull film. On-screen, a man lies on the railway and awaits his end. But at some point the screen and reality become the same. Edited without dialogue, with songs by the Velvet Underground and Nico in the background, this is a portrait of the young generation of actors of the moment.

Mircea hates weddings. And everyone knows that until he makes a controversial post on Facebook that goes viral. Because he has to return a huge amount of money due to wrong decisions, the only solution for him remains his own wedding.

On a rainy day, two guys arrive in a small village with film and a projector in their car. No one from the village comes to meet them. What happened? Who are they? The not knowing relays no small amount of interest at times through tension as in a horror movie, and at times through compassionate laughter.

A docu-comedy about politics in a world where citizens are dogs, politicians are dog breeders, national institutions are local dog breeders’ associations while the highest international forum is the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale, the World Canine Organisation).

A Romanian architect who married abroad reunites with his birthplace, with those he met, with the women he loved, with the echoes of what happened once, with the great transformations that are taking place in the Capitol, on construction sites and in Romanian villages. Condemned by an incurable disease, but also overwhelmed by these realities and by the irrepressible longing for his homeland, the hero decides to return home for good.

Mircea has a 15-year-old daughter whose boyfriend is invited to dine with the family. He arrives early and they go to her bedroom. While watching TV, Mircea can hear his daughter moaning from her room. The dinner starts and Mircea finds out that the boyfriend supports a different football team.

In 1997, Romanian actress Silvia Enescu mysteriously disappeared while searching for family property in Transylvania. All she left behind were a collection of home movies: the TRANSYLVANIA TAPES. Now, Silvia's daughter Mara travels from Los Angeles to Romania to discover what happened to her mother. With the help of her cameraman friend Dylan, Mara documents her journey, which takes her from the streets of Bucharest to the medieval town of Sighisoara, deep in the heart of Transylvania. Unearthing the truth about her mother comes at a terrible price, as Mara must escape an ancient family curse.

Too soft and innocent for the job they do, HARPOON and THE BAPTIST are two money collectors that don't collect much, except for kicks and bruises. As they try in vain to fulfill their contracts, they get involved in a robbery and decide to go for a change in their lives: they will start collecting for themselves.

A high school graduate, disappointed by the failure to be accepted in college, finds balance amongst the coworkers at her new job in a factory.

On his spring break at the seaside, with his wife and his four year old son, Bogdan Ciocazanu runs into his best friends from high-school at the precise date and time that reminds all of them of their most glorious drinking trips and sexual escapades of their younger days. Frustrated that, between his job and his family, time is no longer his to manage and play with, Boogie now takes his shock dosage of freedom and spends a night to tick off all the items on the map of his youth (drinking, games, flirting, prostitutes). In the morning, after the disillusionment of the remake he experiences with his former friends, he returns to his wife.

In order to make a living, old Nica turns her country house into an anemic, bankrupt "pension". Her only joys are her dog's chirping and the TV news program. Out of loneliness, she sometimes imagines herself the heroine of a soap opera: secretly, Nica is in love with the news anchor Paul. The old woman decides to take a trip to Bucharest, where her daughter, Tuta, a nurse, lives with her concubine, Jenel, and Marilena, her 15-year-old daughter. In the capital, her passion for Paul takes paroxysmal forms. Nica monopolizes the remote control to stay on the same TV channel for which Paul presents the news, which will attract the family's irony. She even goes so far as to look for her "beggar" at the TV station, writes to him, exposing herself to humiliation and mockery. But she resists until illness and shame bring her down. Everything culminates in the old woman's attempt to commit suicide...

After years of deplorable conditions of poverty and injustice, peasants revolt against the landowners, the social elite, and police in this routine social drama. A peasant woman is raped by a lecherous wealthy lesbian, and chaos breaks out in the rural areas where the poor suffer the most from the oppressive social and economic conditions.

The life story of Herman, a promising young man who under extreme circumstances changed into Romania's most effective torture machine in the infamous Pitesti Experiment during the Communist Regime

The movie tells the tale of the marital crisis of Romeo and Julieta Ionescu, a crisis that can easily end with a break-up.

In order to get a promotion, a chemical engineer (Dorel Vișan) uses the researches done by his colleague (Dan Condurache) for his doctoral thesis. But when an important damage takes place in the factory where both of them work, the first one’s incompetence comes out.

A film composed entirely of archival photographs and documents related to the Iași Pogrom of June 1941. The first part of the film consists of photographs of the victims, accompanied by statements and testimonies about their fate. The second part, shorter, is a montage of photos of the pogrom itself.

A young couple struggles to keep their marriage afloat in a foreign country.

A short horror movie about the effects of "moths".

Recreating the early twentieth century in Bucharest, leading to an unforgettable journey to the cultural space of Romania bohemia. The film follows the life of one of the famous for his landscapes and still lifes most renowned painters of Romania.

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.

Velicanu considers himself a fulfilled person. He's got money, a new villa, married a younger woman and has a son from a previous marriage. Before the holidays he has to leave everything in order, but things start to get complicated. The crisis at the end of the day make him wonder whatever he is indeed a happy, fulfilled person...

MENTORII follows the story of Johnny Balta, an immature young man and future heir to a vast financial empire owned by his father, Dorin Balta. Dissatisfied with his son's superficial behavior, Dorin decides to kick him out of the house after a car accident and gives him six months to prove that he can become a responsible adult. With the help of his sister Magda, Johnny seeks mentorship from the country's three most famous personal development influencers. From there, things take an unexpected turn...

The love of two adolescents for the same girl, in 1944, which is disrupted by the demands of war. From the novel by Titus Popovici.

In Cold War-era Romania, two Securitate officers intercept a letter from Richard Nixon to Nicolae Ceausescu. With 48 hours to prepare for the arrival of CIA operatives, the two agents race to determine the hidden agenda of the visit.

A young light music band accepts the offer of a shady impresario whose "arrangements" can't prevent their triumph on the seaside.

On the morning of October 14, 1916, when a young scout discovers that the dreaded German army has arrived unhindered near Târgu-Jiu, he hurriedly informs the city commissioner Ioan Popilian and, together with some policemen and scouts, helped by some civilians remaining in the already evacuated city, fights at the Jiului Bridge to stop the enemy from occupying the city until the arrival of the Romanian army. The occupation of the bridge would have led to the occupation of the railway station, which would have allowed the German army to stop the retreating Romanian army. A movie based on a true story.

Based on the story of the same name by Marin Preda. The movie tells about the struggle of poor peasants against the rural rich for the creation of collective farming.

Two parallel stories follow ordinary people chasing sudden wealth: a young couple unexpectedly caught up in a lottery twist, and two adults deceived by an online scam. As their paths converge, their pursuit of easy riches blinds them to what truly matters.

A funny tale about a bad woman-driver and a young thief who tries to steal her purse while she's waiting in jammed traffic.

An experimental short film loosely adapting the story “My Pretty Pony” by Stephen King.

Second of 2 films set during the 18th century in the mountains of Wallachia, about a band of outlaws aiming to undermine the rule of the Phanariots and the Ottomans. The story evolves around the two stepbrothers who lead this band, Sarbu and Amza, with their complex and violent relationship.

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

The film tells the story of a generation that cannot adapt to the reality post-revolution. Nostalgic Emilia tries to keep alive the golden age.

A crew of young filmmakers from Translyvania set out to make an adaptation of the Greek classic Antigone. The film is a summary of their mishaps and obstacles during shooting.

A beautiful garden. Three people. Complicated choices.

Film director, Andrei, and his girlfriend, Paula, face the news of becoming parents. While the future mother is struggling with no worthy role models, the soon-to-be father must reconcile with the figure of his own father, now a monk on Mount Athos.

Valentina lives among her extended family in the poor quarters of a Roma neighbourhood in Skopje, Macedonia. The ten-year-old girl is a tomboy and a highly gifted storyteller. To its charismatic heroine, the film is a roaming companion. Via quirky anecdotes, surreal daydreams and painful memories, Valentina introduces us to her family.

Romania is on the last place in Europe in terms of highway kilometers, but on the first place in the number of deaths in road accidents. Entrepreneur Stefan Mandachi builds 1 meter of highway on his private property.

Young Moldovan nobles try to overthrow King Mihail Sturdza. They plot an assassination and spread flyers. On this backdrop, there is a romance story between Franz Liszt, in tournament, and one of the noblemen's daughter, who is close to the plotters.

A simple story about a man who, in saving another man - whom he does not know - suffers all the consequences of an accident and the implications that medicine catalogs in the name of science.

A first hand account of one of the biggest cases of human trafficking during the Cold War. A story of greed, courage, hope and remorse.

A concrete expert is torn between his family, who wants to settle in a city, and his work, which requires constant relocating.

An animated historical short film about Trajan's Dacian Wars.

During the pandemic, Bică and Horică are tying to help their brother to kiss a girl according to the traditional festival for good luck. But the festival is cancelled due to the pandemic and things are getting more and more complicated when a French girl will do anything she can to prevent the brothers from helping him.

A young communist returns to a small provincial town.

Robert is a young writer passing through a difficult time in his life. He decides to return home into his native village for the first time since his mother passed away three years ago. In more than 10 years, he paid only few visits to his parents and this fact is reflected by the distant relationship Robert has with his father. As it happens, he meets two former classmates: Petrica - his old best friend, now married with children and Paula- his teenage sweetheart. She is divorced after an unhappy marriage and is now working at a local store. She doesn’t seem to be engaged in a relationship…

Mofturi 1900 is a 1964 Romanian comedic film directed by Jean Georgescu and based on Ion Luca Caragiale's many Moments and Sketches. The sketches used are "Diplomatie" ("Diplomacy"), "Amicii" ("Pals"), "O lacuna" ("A gap"), "Bubico", "C.F.R." (abbreviation of "Romanian Railways") and "Din statiune" ("From resort"). The film stars Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, Iurie Darie and Ion Dichiseanu; and features Ioana Bulcă, Alexandru Giugaru, Mircea Crisan, Geo Barton and others. Set at the beginning of the 20th century, the story revolves around two Mitică characters sitting at a cafe telling stories to each other.

It is 1944, german troops are in retreat. These troops were using a communication station and a cypher. The mission is to acquire the cypher...

After Romania changed alliances in August 23rd, 1944, a group of soldiers have the mission to stop a military train.

Alex is an artist shunned by success whose love life is affected by the career rise of his girlfriend, Carmen. Alex is sent to a maximum security penitentiary to stage the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The great Shakespeare with prisoners. In the face of their efforts to overcome his limits, Alex realizes that he is a prisoner in his own life. For their part, the inmates do everything to be selected in the penitentiary theater festival, because each scene has a hatch through which they can escape.

The plot take place in 1883 in a small provincial town in Romania, where the corrupt establishment decide everything, including - of course - who will be the "elected" representative to the national Senate. A love letter from the bachelor mayor to the wife of the local party chief, gets lost and found by a drunk party supporter. The letter finds its way to the opposition party, which decide to use the letter by blackmailing the powerful local "camarilla", and to get his own man to represent the county. What follows is not easy to guess...

A young girl, who keeps trying unsuccessfully to get into college, wins a large sum at the Lottery. She goes to Bucharest, to find herself.

Mihu and Filimon, two friends, are in love with the same girl, Carolina. Their rivalry takes the form of a bet. The girl knows that she is the one who must choose, and she hesitates to do so because she loves them both for purely emotional reasons.

Sequel of "The Sea Wolf". The writer van Weyden, who escaped from Captain Larsen's ship, follows the trail of his enemy for years in order to take revenge. He finds him as a man who has been mentally and physically destroyed by other criminals.

Three young man run in the rain with a borrowed car. The first accident, whose victim is a girl, gives the signal for a race through the city to escape the police crews. Race ends tragically, with another serious incident, even one victim is involved. The only way out is escape. The film shows the psychological transformation of fugitives, in their desperate attempt to evade the consequences and pressures of their conscience.

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?

A television cameraman and his subject find themselves in the middle of an intertwined professional and personal dilemma.