Cristian Mungiu: Born in Iasi, Romania, in 1968, Cristian
Mungiu initially graduated from the University of Iasi with a degree
in English and American Literature. For a period, he worked as an
English language teacher, newspaper journalist, and radio/TV
journalist and entertainer.
In 1998, Cristian Mungiu graduated from the Bucharest University of
Dramatic Art and Cinema. His graduation film, "The Hand of
Paulista", represented Romania at the student Oscar awards in
1999. Cristian Mungiu made three other shorts: "Nothing by
Chance", "The Firemen's Choir" and "Zapping",
all of them well-received at international festivals;
"Zapping" was also screened in 2003 by Canal+. His first
feature, "Occident", had its international premiere at
Quainzaine des Realisateurs in Cannes, 2002. The film was a big hit
in Romania; it also won 10 international awards, including The
Audience Award in Tessalonik, The Fipresci Critics Award in Sofia and
awards for best film in Leeds, Mons, Annonay and Cluj. Cristian
Mungiu also worked as assistant director for several foreign films
shot in Romania: "Capitaine Conan" (by Bertrand Tavernier),
"Train de Vie" (by Radu Mihaileanu), and "Beowulf"
(by Graham Baker).
Besides filmmaking, Cristian Mungiu is also very active in literary
circles: his first book, "Cristian Mungiu: 7 screenplays"
was published at Liternet
Publishing House in 2002. For more information, click here
for an interview with Cristian Mungiu (unfortunately, the interview is
only in Romanian).
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Cristian Nemescu: One of the youngest Romanian directors,
Cristian Nemescu was born in 1979, and just recently graduated from
the Romanian National Academy of Drama "I.L. Caragiale". He
already directed several short films - "Flathouse People Are
Dying for Music", "Mecano", "C Block Story",
and "Mihai and Cristina" - and a documentary, "Kitsch
Witches, 2 FM" (a.k.a. "Kitschitoarele, 2 FM"). We'll
show two of Cristian Nemescu's shorts, two delicate stories of coming
of age in modern Bucharest. "C Block Story"
(a.k.a. "Poveste de la scara C"), is described by Cristian
Nemescu as "elevator love stories on the outskirts of
Bucharest": Andrei, a shy teenager, is head over heels in
love with Monica. Desperate to get her attention, he rings a
telephone sex line to get some tips on how he might seduce her in the
elevator. The same elevator will also help spice up his parents
marriage. In "Mihai and Cristina - Life Stories", Mihai, a
sexually unexperienced teenager, decides one night to pay a visit to
Cristina, one of his classmates, with whom he is madly in love. On
the way, he goes through a series of adventures that change him
completely.
Hanno Höfer: Born in Timisoara, Romania, in 1964, Hanno
Höfer studied the history of South-Eastern Europe in Berlin,
Germany, and later graduated from the Bucharest University of Dramatic
Art and Cinema in 1998. Before doing movies, he was a stage actor
with the German Theater of Timisoara. So far, he made three short
movies: "The International Phonecall", "On the Other
Side", and "Humanitarian Aid", all awarded important
prizes at international film festivals in Bucharest (DaKino short film
festival), Montpellier (Mediteranean Film Festival), Clermont-Ferrand
etc. Besides being a director, Hanno Höfer is also a member of
two Jazz and Blues groups: "Nightlosers", and "Harry
Tavitian's Orient Express."
