Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, comedy, 89 min, eng subtitles, 12+
Written by Corneliu Porumboiu
With Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru
In the director’s home town of Vaslui, which could be any small Romanian town, the vain owner of a local TV station pretends to ascertain whether the revolution that rid Romania of its communist regime had also occurred on their main square. The answer, to be given at a live talk show filmed with a (relatively) fixed camera, hinges on the precise timeline of the whereabouts of the far from heroic witnesses he could summon: an alcoholic and debt-ridden history teacher, and a retiree whom everyone knows as a Santa Claus of last resort.
Corneliu Porumboiu’s highly acclaimed feature film debut tests the limits of memory-based recent history and spices the mix of ordinary lives and hot air with a good shot of xenophobia, East European humour and the odd reference to Jacques Tati.
Awards:
Cannes FF 2006 (Golden Camera, Label Europa Cinemas)
Copenhagen IFF 2006 (Golden Swan for Best Film, Best Screenplay)
Cottbus FF 2006 (Special Prize for Outstanding Artistic Contribution)
Zagreb FF 2006 (Jury Award)
Transilvania IFF 2006 (Best Romanian Film, Transilvania Trophy)