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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