Romanian New Wave
OVID is proud to present a collection of films from the Romanian “New Wave”, spotlighting some of the most exciting contemporary European filmmaking in recent years.
First emerging in the mid-2000s, Romanian New Wave filmmakers earned acclaim on the international festival circuit for their combination of austere minimalism, realist sensibility and dry, black humor. While rejecting any sweeping comparisons between their work, the movement's filmmakers share a preoccupation with Romania's past and present, often rethinking the language of filmic realism in the process.
Between their abundant historical ironies, unexpected narrative diversions and attention to the absurdity of everyday life, the films in this collection register the disorientation of Romanian national identity, still colored by the long shadow of the communist era and struggling to come to terms with the shock of a rapid transition to free-market capitalism.
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Dogs
Directed by Bogdan Mirica • Drama • With Dragos Bucur, Gheorghe Visu, Vlad Ivanov • 2016 • 104 minutes
One of the most acclaimed debuts of recent years, and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Bogdan Mirică’s Dogs is a haunting and grue...
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The Story of a Summer Lover
Directed by Paul Negoescu • Drama • With Alexandru Papadopol, Radu Romaniuc, Nicoleta Lefter • 2018 • 100 minutes
A coming-of-middle age romantic comedy. Carefree college professor Petru (Alexandru Papadopol) is a 42-year-old man-child, in an open relationship with Irina (Nicoleta Lefter)....unt...
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When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism
Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu • Drama • With Diana Avramut • 2014 • 89 minutes
A director asks his actress whether she’s comfortable doing a nude scene. As long as its justified, she says. Don’t worry, he replies. So begins Corneliu Porumboiu’s deliciously witty new film. Shot inside non-descri...
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Men of Deeds
Directed by Paul Negoescu • Drama • With Iulian Postelnicu, Vasile Muraru, Daniel Busuioc • 2022 • 105 minutes
Fresh from the U.S. success of his indie hit Two Lottery Tickets, director Paul Negoescu goes into Twin Peaks-like territory and flexes his Coen Brothers’ muscles in his latest outing M...
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Two Lottery Tickets
Directed by Paul Negoescu • Drama • With Dorian Boguta, Dragos Bucur, Alexandru Papadopol • 2016 • 86 minutes
Sile, an underemployed carpenter who spends most afternoons at the pub, convinces his buddy Dinel to play the lottery one hot afternoon. After borrowing a few Euro from Pompiliu, the loc...
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A Month In Thailand
Directed by Paul Negoescu • Drama • With Andrei Mateiu, Ioana Anastasia Anton, Sinziana Nicola, Tudor Istodor • 2012 • 85 minutes
Perfectly capturing the feeling of post-holiday year end ennui, A Month In Thailand orbits around it's sad-sack hero’s misadventures on New Year's Eve. A twilight ody...
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Aferim! (Radu Jude)
Directed by Radu Jude • Drama • With Teodor Corban, Toma Cuzin, Luminita Gheorghiu • 2016 • 108 minutes
Eastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a gypsy slave who has run awa...
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"I Do Not Care if We Go Down in History as Barbarians"
Directed by Radu Jude • Drama • With Ioana Iacob, Alex Bogdan, Alexandru Dabija • 2019 • 140 minutes
“I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians.” These words, spoken by Romania’s military dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu in the Council of Ministers in the summer of 1941, started the eth...
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The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Directed by Andrei Ujica • Documentary • 2011 • 180 minutes
A monumental achievement, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU tracks the rise and fall of the infamous Romanian dictator through his own propaganda footage. Writer and director Andrei Ujica, along with editor Dana Bunescu, crafted ov...
