Romanian independent cinema has been a major player on the international film scene in the last decade, with Romanian directors winning awards at many prestigious festivals. We have chosen five great films that we think you will love.

Romanian independent cinema has been a major player on the international film scene in the last decade, with Romanian directors winning awards at many prestigious festivals. We have chosen five great films that we think you will love.

Graduation, 2017

Directed by Cristian Mungiu, this exploration of corruption in everyday life is subtle and enthralling to watch as the characters grapple with their own moral dilemmas. Adrian Titieni stars as Dr Romeo Aldea, a father who goes to considerable lengths to ensure his eighteen-year-old daughter’s academic future after an assault that risks to derail her exam results. Caught between the desire to get his daughter out of their provincial town and into a prestigious British university and the longing for a less corrupted society, Aldea struggles to find a compromise.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 2006

This dark comedy by the director Cristi Puiu chronicles the mind-numbing bureaucracy as Mr Lazarescu, a retired engineer who has lived his whole life in Bucharest state housing, calls for an ambulance after a four-day-old headache. Ending up going from hospital to hospital as various indifferent doctors refuse to treat him, Dante Lazarescu’s descent into Soviet-style hell is both comical and heart-wrenching. The film won numerous awards and was named the fifth “Best Film of the 21st Century So Far” in 2017 by The New York Times.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days, 2008

The film that propelled director Cristian Mungiu to international fame, this absorbing drama unfolds in 1980’s Romania, right at the end of the dying Communist regime, and follows two young women, Otilia and Gabi?a, as they try to organise Gabi?a’s illegal abortion.

Tuesday, After Christmas, 2011

This love triangle drama directed by Radu Muntean is completely removed from the political angle that often permeates indie Romanian films, instead plunging us into the intricate details of modern family life. Paul is caught between his family and his mistress, who happens to be his young daughter’s dentist. A decision has to be made, with tension mounting from the first seconds of watching. The film won the 2010 Golden Owl Award at the Leeds International Film Festival for its depiction of complex human emotions.

Dogs, 2016

Bogdan Mirica’s debut as a director, this drama was the winner in several categories at the 2017 Gopo Awards, as well as the FIPRESCI prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of a young man Roman who travels to rural Romania in order to sell the land he inherited from his late grandfather, only to discover that his grandfather used to be a local mafia lord. Full of black humour, this tense rollercoaster of a crime thriller is exquisitely bleak yet gripping to watch.

By Maia Nikitina

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