Romanian New Wave in 10 films

Since 2005 Romanian directors have told small, dry and often very funny stories that carry the weight of communism and its leftovers. Watch these in order to see how a country looks at itself when the camera does not look away.

1. 1

   The Death of Mr. Lazarescu 2005Cristi Puiu · IMDb 7.8An old man is passed from hospital to hospital in one night in Bucharest while doctors argue. The film that started the movement won at Cannes.

   Next: 12:08 East of Bucharest ▾

   After the film that started the wave, we turn to a comedy: a TV host and a debate about what happened in the 1989 revolution.
2. 2

   12:08 East of Bucharest 2006Corneliu Porumboiu · IMDb 7.3On the anniversary of the 1989 revolution, a local TV host asks if their town really rose up before Ceaușescu fled. A dry comedy about memory.

   Next: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ▾

   The wave wins the Palme d'Or: the same dry style, now in a tense story of a hard choice under Ceaușescu.
3. 3

   4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 2007Cristian Mungiu · IMDb 7.9Two students arrange an illegal abortion in 1987. Mungiu's tense, patient film won the Palme d'Or.

   Next: Police, Adjective ▾

   Porumboiu goes from the past to a small police case in which words and law become the real subject.
4. 4

   Police, Adjective 2009Corneliu Porumboiu · IMDb 7.0A young policeman follows a teenager who smokes hashish and starts to doubt the law. A film about words, rules and conscience.

   Next: Child's Pose ▾

   Class and money enter: a rich mother tries to protect her grown son after a car accident.
5. 5

   Child's Pose 2013Călin Peter Netzer · IMDb 7.3A rich mother tries to protect her grown son after a fatal car accident. A sharp family study that won the Golden Bear.

   Next: Aferim! ▾

   From the present we go back to the 19th century, in a black-and-white western about slavery and prejudice.
6. 6

   Aferim! 2015Radu Jude · IMDb 7.6In 1835 a constable and his son hunt a runaway Roma slave. Jude shoots this black-and-white Western to look at racism and power in Romania's past.

   Next: Graduation ▾

   Back in modern Romania, Mungiu shows how a father's small compromises push his daughter into the same system.
7. 7

   Graduation 2016Cristian Mungiu · IMDb 7.3A father tries to fix his daughter's exam, and one small act of corruption becomes a moral trap. Mungiu shared the Best Director prize at Cannes.

   Next: Sieranevada ▾

   Puiu opens up the long-take style into a family gathering where everyone talks at once.
8. 8

   Sieranevada 2016Cristi Puiu · IMDb 7.3A family gathering after a funeral lasts three hours in a small Bucharest flat, with fights about 1989 and 9/11.

   Next: Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn ▾

   Radu Jude makes it angrier and funnier, with a pandemic-era satire in three parts.
9. 9

   Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn 2021Radu Jude · IMDb 6.5A teacher's private video leaks online. Jude's three-part satire of Romanian society and the pandemic won the Golden Bear.

   Next: Collective ▾

   We close with a documentary about a hospital fire, which shows the real Romania behind the fiction.
10. 10

    Collective 2019Alexander Nanau · IMDb 8.1Journalists uncover why people died in hospitals after a nightclub fire. A documentary that shows the new wave at its most urgent, nominated for two Oscars.

Where next: the Balkan Cinema guide shows the neighbours, and the Greek Weird Wave guide shows another small country that found a new voice.

Learn more about Romanian New Wave →