CRISTI PUIU
Cristi Puiu (born 3 April 1967) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.

Puiu's first interest in art was painting and in 1992, he was admitted as a student at the Painting Department of Ecole Superieure d'Arts Visuels in Geneva. After the first year he switched to film studies at the same school and graduated in 1996. After returning to Romania, Cristi Puiu started directing and writing his first films, generally enjoying critical success.

Cristi Puiu's debut as a director was in 2001 with the low budget road movie Stuff and Dough (Marfa şi Banii) starring Alexandru Papadopol and Dragoş Bucur. The film received several awards in international film festivals and competed in the Quinzaines des Realisateurs section of the Cannes Film Festival. Some critics say that this is the movie that started the Romanian New Wave in cinema. He continued with a short film, Cigarettes and Coffee (Un cartuş de Kent şi un pachet de cafea) (2004), which was awarded the Golden Bear for best short film at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival.

His second film, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu) (2005), features the drama of an old man who is carried by an ambulance from hospital to hospital all night long, as doctors keep refusing to treat him and send him away. The film was a critical success, being awarded with Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and numerous awards at other international film festivals.

Year 2006 brought 47 prizes for his film The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu) (2005), a lot of nominees in American Critics top 10 and in France also for magazines as Telerama and Les Inrockuptibles.
Cristi Puiu co-wrote the screenplays of both of his feature films Stuff and Dough (2001) and The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu (2005) with Romanian writer Răzvan Radulescu. His short film Cigarettes and Coffee (2004) was also written by him. Also in collaboration with Răzvan Radulescu, Cristi Puiu wrote the screenplay for Niki and Flo for Lucian Pintilie, one of the most important Romanian directors. In 2005 German director Didi Danquart based the movie Offset on a script written by Puiu.

Puiu intends to make a series of six movies entitled Six Stories from the Outskirts of Bucharest to answer Éric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series. He intends the series to consist of six love stories, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu being the first story about love for one's fellow man.

The next five films should be about love between a man and a woman, love for one's children, love of success, love between friends, and carnal love. Cristi Puiu says that he already has a synopsis ready for each of these films. The second film, Aurora, is scheduled to be screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

CONSTANTIN POPESCU
Constantin Popescu was born on the 15th of December, 1973. He has a BA in foreign languages – Spanish-English (Bucharest University), a degree in Spanish as a Foreign Language (University of Salamanca) and a Master in British Cultural Studies (Foreign Languages and Literatures Faculty, Bucharest).

Timeline

1992
Production assistant, “THE OAK” - Lucian Pintilie, feature, ‘100, Official Selection in Competition Cannes International Film Festival;

1993
Production assistant, “AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER”- Lucian Pintilie, feature, ‘90, Official Selection in Competition Cannes International Film Festival;

Making-off “AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER”, ‘60;

1995
Production assistant “TOO LATE” - Lucian Pintilie, feature film, ’100, Official Selection in competition Cannes International Film Festival;

1998
Production assistant “TERMINUS PARADIS” - Lucian Pintilie, feature film, ’90, winner “Jury Award” Venice International Film Festival;

2000
Production assistant, “AN AFTERNOON WITH A TORTIONARY”- Lucian Pintilie, ’90;

Making-off “AN AFTERNOON WITH A TORTIONARY”, ’30;

Production assistant for “Code Inconnue”, Michael Haneke, “Amen” Costa Gavras (uncredited);

2002
Production assistant, “NIKI & FLO” - Lucian Pintilie, feature film, ’90, Official Selection Quinzaine des Realisateurs, Cannes International Film Festival;

2003
Executive producer, “18:36” - Ionuţ Giurgiucă, short feature film, Berlinale Talent Campus;

Author, novel “Chew and You’ll Breathe Easier”, Best Debut Bucharest Writers Association.

Assistant director and co-writer “Lotus” - Ioan Cărmăzan, feature film;

2004
Production assistant “A Pine Cone” - Ionuţ Giurgiucă, short feature film;

Writer and Director “The APARTMENT”, short feature, ’21; Winner of the “Gran Premio della Giuria” Award at Venice International Short Film Festival Circuito Off, Venice 2004; “Best Debut”, TIFF Romania, 2004; “Best Script”, Anonimul Film Festival, 2004; “Best Debut” and “Best Cinematography”, Romanian Filmmakers Association 2004, etc. Festivals: Rome, Valladolid, Cracow, Bello Horizonte, Montpellier, Sarajevo, Wien, Tokio, Florence, Paris, Jerusalem, Trevignano, Cabrieres d’Avignon, Prague, Berlin, Sarajevo, Namur.

2005
Director “A LINEMAN’S CABIN”, short feature film (script: Cristian Mungiu), ’33; Winner of the “Gran Premio della Giuria” Award at Venice International Short Film Festival Circuito Off, Venice 2006; “Jury Award”, TIFF, Romania, 2005; “Jury Award”, Anonimul Film Festival, 2005; “Jury Award” and “Best Art Direction”, Romanian Filmmakers Association 2005, “Best Short Film” Romanian National Cinematography Council 2005 etc Festivals: Thessaloniki, Greece 2005; Cottbus, Germany, 2005; Lille, France, 2005; IFF San José, 2006; IFF Syracuse, 2006; Barcelona IFF, 2006; Namur IFF, 2006 etc

Assistant director “Youth Without Youth”, Francis Ford Coppola, 2005 (uncredited);

2006
Production assistant “MARILENA FROM P7” – Cristian Nemescu, medium feature, ’45, Official Selection in Competition Semaine de la Critique, Cannes International Film Festival;

Writer and director “The Train” TV docu-drama;

2007
Writer and director “WATER”, short feature, ’35; Winner of “Jury Special Award” Montpellier Film Festival, France, 2007; special mention Romanian Filmmakers Association 2007; “Special Jury Award”, Namur International Film Festival, Belgium, 2009.

2008
Director “THE YELLOW SMILEY FACE”, short feature (writer Doru Lupeanu), ’15; Official Selection in Competition “Leopards of tomorrow”, Locarno International Film Festival, 2008; Winner “Public Award” Trieste International Film Festival, 2009; Golden Medal at Belgrade Film Festival 2009; Great Prize at Balchik International Film Festival 2009.

2009
Director of segment from “TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE”, feature, omnibus, written and produced by Cristian Mungiu; Official Selection in competition Un Certain Regard Cannes International Film Festival 2009; Audience Award TIFF, Romania 2009.

2010
Writer and director “PORTRAIT OF THE FIGHTER AS A YOUNG MAN”, feature film, ‘163, Official Selection Forum, Berlin International Film Festival;

Director “LIFE PRINCIPLES”, written by Răzvan Rădulescu and Alex Baciu, ’90, in post production.

Calin Netzer
PETER CALIN NETZER was born on May, 1, 1975, in Petrosani, Romania.
In 1983, he immigrated to Germany together with his parents.
From 1984 he has been living in Stuttgart where he graduated from elementary school and high school.
After taking his school/leaving diploma, in 1994, he started the courses of the Theatre and Film University of Bucharest, Romania, Film Direction Department, and in 1999 he obtained a diploma as film director.

FILMOGRAPHY

1994 – “Rag Ball” (fiction, video, 8 min.)
Sceneenplay and Director
1995 – “Dry Eyes” (fiction, 16 mm, 7 min.)
Sceneenplay and Director
1995 – Advertising spot ( BETA, 20 seconds)
Sceneenplay and Director
1996 – “Hot Line” (documentary, 16 mm, 8 min.)
Sceneenplay and Director
Selected for Attending international festivals as following: Costinesti, Bucharest (DAKINO), MARSEILLE (Vue sur les Docs)
1997 – “Maria” (fiction, 35 mm, 25 min, black-and-white)
Sceneenplay and Director
Selected for attending international festivals as following: Ludwigsburg, Dresda, Munchen, Berlin, Postdam, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Ankara, Bucharest, Tampere, Mar del Plata, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Aubagne (Meridiens), Sienna, Spoletto, Rome, Instanbul, Tg. Mures, Budapest etc.

International Festivals Awards for “Maria” (short feature):
- Jury Special Award (1997- Berlin- Prix Europe) donation from Europe Council
- “Distribution” Prize (1997- Berlin-Prix Europe) donation from Europe Council
- Kodak Prize for the best image (1997 – Munich)
- Special Jury Prize (1997 – Bucharest – Cinemaiubit – International Award)
- Kodak Prize for the best image (1997-Bucharest-Cinemaiubit-International Award)
- “Best Actress” Prize (1998-Mar del Plata)
- Great Award for the best short-length film (1998-New European Talent-Barcelona)
1998 – “The Snow of the Lambs” (fiction, 35 mm, 20 min., colour)
Sceenplay and Director
Selected for attending international festivals as fallowing:
Montpellier, Potiers (Henri Langlois), Clermont Ferrand, Aubage,Trevignano Romano, Dresden, Ludwigsburg, Rom, Tampere, Valencia, Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro, Quebec, Sydney (Flickerfest), Vila do Conde, Conversano, Bucharest, Berlin, San Francisco (Golden Gate Awards) etc.

International Festival Awards for “The Snow of the Lambs”:

- Best short film (1999- Tampere – International Film Festival)
- Best Director Prize (1999 – Dresden – International Film Festival)

Screenplays for feature films:
“Pigeos Emperor” 1999, “Maria” 2001 – 2002
2003 – Maria (fiction,35mm,97min colour)
Screenplay and Director

Selected for over 40 international festivals

International Festival Awards for Maria
- grand prize of the yury Locarno 2003
- silver leopard for best actress Locarno(Diana Dumbrava) 2003
- silver leopard for best actor Locarno(Serban Ionescu) 2003
- special mention youth jury Locarno 2003
- Grand prix for best film (Fliegende Kamera) Tuebingen 2003
- Selection of the European film awards EFA 2003
- Nomination for best European actress EFA 2003 (Diana Dumbrava)
- Prize for Best European debut Zlin 2004
- Special mention for best film Festroia 2004
- Grand prix for best film Paris 2004
- Audience award Neisse 2004
- Special mention Cottbus 2003
- Special prize of intern. Film societies Cottbus 2003
- Best debut Cottbus 2003
- Best film and best director Costinesti 2003

2009/2010 Medal of Honor (fiction,35mm,105min colour) Screenplay and Director

Corneliu Porumboiu
Corneliu Porumboiu was born in 1955, in Vaslui, Romania. He studied film directing at the Film and Theatre University of Bucharest. His first short film – „A Trip to the City” (2003) – won the 2nd prize in the Cinefondation section of Cannes and the best short award at the Montpellier FF. The medium feature „Liviu’s Dream” (2003) won the best Romanian film award at TIFF (2004) and was shown at the Telluride Film Festival.

In 2005, Corneliu Porumboiu entered the residency program at Cannes. In 2006, he made his debut in feature film with „12:08 East of Bucharest”, which was selected in Directors’ Fortnight section of Cannes IFF and won the Camera d’Or award for best debut and the Label Europe award, offered by the film distributors association. The film gathered more than 20 prizes, all over the world.

About his second feature, „Police, Adjective”, Corneliu Porumboiu says “I wanted to make a film about language, about its meaning or, better yet, about its lack of meaning. Cristi is a cop enforcing a law made out of words. At a certain point, he’s afraid to solve a minor case out of fear he might have a young man’s life on his conscience. In Anghelache’s office – his superior – the meaning of the words changes via the dictionary. Behind the words, there’s the dictionary; in the past, behind the words there was God, but that’s a world my characters no longer have access to. The crime genre seduced me because, every time around, it involved you, the viewer; it was like a game of puzzle in which you were involved and which provoked you to foresee what was to come. In the end, all things would be clarified and everything made sense. Working on this film, I chose to look in an almost clinical way at a police procedural and the way in which cops react; I followed him around the same way he, in his turn, follows his suspects around, with the strong belief that the cinema is witness to a meaningless world.”

RADU JUDE
Radu was born in Bucharest, in 1977. In 2003 he graduated the Media University - Filmmaking Department.

He worked as an assistant director for feature films shot in Romania, like “Amen” (by Costa-Gavras) and The “Death of Mr. Lazarescu” (by Cristi Puiu).

He directed the short films “Wrestling” (2003), “The Black Sea” (2004), “The Tube with a Hat” (2006) – the most awarded Romanian short of all times, winner of main prizes in Sundance, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Grimstad, Hamburg, Bilbao, Huesca, Trieste, Montpellier, Cottbus, Aspen, Indielisboa, Bruxelles, Mediawave, Cracow, Almeria, Valencia, Uppsala and selected in: Toronto, Telluride, New Directors/NewFilms, Tampere, Rotterdam, Huesca etc., “In the Morning” (TV film, 2007), “Alexandra” (2007) - selected in Clermont-Ferrand, awarded in Oberhausen and approx.100 advertising commercials.

The Happiest Girl in the World represents Radu’s debut in feature film. The project won the NHK/Filmmaker Award in Sundance 2008, being selected in the Berlinale-Forum 2009 where it succeeded to draw the attention of film critics and was therefore granted the CICAE (Confederation Internationale des Cinemas d’Art et d’Essai) Award. The CICAE Jury that decided to offer this award to the film made by the Romanian director, included several film specialists, such as Jorg Jacob, Silvia Angrisani and Gyorgy Karpati.

Director’s Statement

In 2005 I was preparing a short film with a friend of mine, Andrei Butic, a director of photography. At some point, I told him a story I witnessed at one of my first “professional” shootings. I was supposed to film a teenager girl coming from a poor background. She was supposed to look happily at the camera and tell us how she sent in three juice bottle labels and won a car. The girl was not happy at all, on the contrary, she was feeling miserable because her parents decided that she should sell the car, so that they could pay some debts. Andrei told me that this story could become a good film. Encouraged by him, I wrote together with Augustina Stanciu a 30 pages script. It wasn’t really working, the story was too hurried, so, little by little, we transformed it into a longer script.

Actually, I never knew for sure what’s this story about, what’s the meaning of it. I thought that it could be about many different things. About how the people think about what’s good for them. About compromises and lies. About the language of film being used in order to cheat. About being a scared teenager and not having the guts to fight your parents to the end. About what it is to be a parent who must take profit of his/her own child in order to fulfill the future plans. About happiness, sadness and consume. About capitalism. About the way sun goes down in University Square during the summer.

Seeing the film completed, I don’t know how many of the above mentioned remained. I don’t know whether the film is good or bad. I don’t have nor the skill, neither the distance to realize it. And, fortunately, it’s not my business to do it. I only hope that whoever will see the film will find in it something meaningful and emotional.