The New Romanian Cinema

Films such as Occident, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, Police, Adjective and If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle have brought Romanian cinema from relative obscurity into the limelight of the international festival circuit and to the attention of professional and lay audiences alike. These films' common aesthetic, thematic, ethical and ideological traits expound a coherent and increasingly important film movement - the new Romanian cinema. Through the prism of a representative selection of twenty extraordinarily well-crafted and highly awarded films made over the last decade, this book offers an overview of Romanian cinema from its origins to the present. It describes the cultural, social and political environment. It features historical and textual analysis of key films. It offers a unique exploration of the films' audio-visual grammar of space and time. It integrates contemporary film theory and cultural and gender studies. It examines the broader (Eastern European) industrial context and the impact of audience and industry discourses. It features interviews with prominent directors such as Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, and Corneliu Porumboiu.