Ada Solomon

On behalf of a multinational company, a production assistant drives around the Romanian city of Bucharest, interviewing various citizens who have been injured due to work accidents to cast one of them in a “safety at work” video.

"I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians." These words, spoken in the Council of Ministers of the summer of 1941, started the ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. The film attempts to comment on this statement.

In 21st century Bucharest, to go out in the city on Saturday evening on the arm of a beautiful woman is a risky financial investment. Ovidiu, an unassuming high school teacher, never could afford it. Looking for a source of income more substantial than a teacher's salary, Ovidiu plunges into a fabulous world – the beggar mob.

As she stands on the verge of leaving the orphanage she called home, Rebeca, a young Roma girl, clings to the hope that her father's release from prison will finally give her the family she has always longed for. When she is accepted into university to study acting, life finally seems to be opening up for her. But just as Rebeca begins to find her place in this new world, the life she comes from starts to catch up with her, forcing her to make choices she can no longer postpone.

A Chilean woman, Teresa, comes into a firmly structured and isolated mountain community of Croatian shepherds in the early 20th century, claiming to be the widow of their émigré brother. Her arrival changes the dynamics between the members of the community and brings unrest, but also inspiration for other women.

Bari, a city caught in the relentless economic crisis. Ivo is an agronomist, but the lack of opportunities pushes him to accept a job in the fertile region of Banat in Romania. Clara has just ended a relationship and is about to lose her job at the Bari harbor. Ivo and Clara meet by chance and seem to immediately understand each other. They spend only one night together before Ivo's departure, but that is enough to create a bond and wanting to meet again. When Clara visits him in Romania, they fall in love. But is exile their only way to happiness?

On behalf of a multinational company, a production assistant drives around the Romanian city of Bucharest, interviewing various citizens who have been injured due to work accidents to cast one of them in a “safety at work” video.

"I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians." These words, spoken in the Council of Ministers of the summer of 1941, started the ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. The film attempts to comment on this statement.

As she stands on the verge of leaving the orphanage she called home, Rebeca, a young Roma girl, clings to the hope that her father's release from prison will finally give her the family she has always longed for. When she is accepted into university to study acting, life finally seems to be opening up for her. But just as Rebeca begins to find her place in this new world, the life she comes from starts to catch up with her, forcing her to make choices she can no longer postpone.

A Chilean woman, Teresa, comes into a firmly structured and isolated mountain community of Croatian shepherds in the early 20th century, claiming to be the widow of their émigré brother. Her arrival changes the dynamics between the members of the community and brings unrest, but also inspiration for other women.

Bari, a city caught in the relentless economic crisis. Ivo is an agronomist, but the lack of opportunities pushes him to accept a job in the fertile region of Banat in Romania. Clara has just ended a relationship and is about to lose her job at the Bari harbor. Ivo and Clara meet by chance and seem to immediately understand each other. They spend only one night together before Ivo's departure, but that is enough to create a bond and wanting to meet again. When Clara visits him in Romania, they fall in love. But is exile their only way to happiness?

A group of freshmen in an orthodox college are introduced in a world of cons, pleasure and money, but they soon discover that's not the way one's life should be lead.

36-year-old Stela has higher education but unable to keep a job. Since she was 12, she's been in love with a Serbian musician from the former Yugoslavia. One of the musician's alleged mistresses promises Stela that she will help her meet her idol.

Child's Pose is a contemporary drama focusing on the relationship between a mother and her 32-year-old son. After the accidental killing of a boy in a car crash, the mother tries to prevent her son being charged for the death, and she refuses to accept that her son is a grown-up man.

In Bucharest on a winter’s morning, a couple make love. Adina wants to move in with her boyfriend Radu as soon as possible. He, on the other hand, is slightly more reluctant but appears to simply tolerate her plans. Today is New Year’s Eve and Radu and Adina have a lot to do: the two have planned a visit to Adina’s parents followed by a party with friends. While buying last-minute gifts at the supermarket, Radu thinks he spots ex-girlfriend Nadja, who he has never forgotten. In one small moment, Radu’s insecurities about Adina come bubbling to the surface. No sooner have the corks begin to pop, the relationship comes to an abrupt end. This is followed by the perfectly timed offer from Radu’s friend Alex to hit the town with him and his friends. Radu accepts the offer in the hope that Nadja is also out. Director Paul Negogescu draws a portrait of Radu with precision and subtle irony – and captures the atmosphere of a New Year’s evening with great authenticity.

It's based on the story of a crisis that took place in the summer of 2017 in the life of Mladenovic, a Serbian-born director living in Romania.

Given a portrait, who is responsible for the image we see, the painter or the subject? Ion used to be a a rockstar of Ballet in Communist Romania. When we first discussed the possibility of a portrait, Ion was initially thrilled. He’d been dreaming that someday there’d be a film about him. But during the filmmaking process Ion finds it hard to let go.

Mircea, an old employee at the National Company of Motorways and National Roads wants to get George - his nephew - hired at the same company. The job consists of manually counting all the cars passing on the national roads for some EU statistics, but they both have different opinions about their work and eventually their friendship turns into a conflict.

This deep dive into Romania's chaotic 2025 elections echoes global patterns of democratic erosion and the growth of fascist movements—with social media fueling the frenzy.

Set in early 19th century Wallachia, Romania, a policeman, Costandin, is hired by a nobleman to find a Gypsy slave who has run away from his estate after having an affair with his wife.

Marius is a divorced man in his late thirties. His five year-old daughter Sofia lives with her mother, which causes Marius a deep frustration. On the day Marius arrives to take his daughter on their annual holiday, he is told that she is ill but he doesn't believe it and insists to take her with him. The situation soon gets out of control with all the family taking part in a web of humor, violence, childish songs, police interventions and love statements.

In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian city of Botoşani. They demanded freedom, alluded to the democratic developments taking place in Romania’s socialist sister countries or simply called for improvements in the food supply. Mugur Călinescu was behind them, who was still at school at the time and whose case is documented in the files of the Romanian secret police. Theatre director Gianina Cărbunariu created a documentary play based on this material.

Delia, a young Romanian girl, comes to Bucharest with her parents to collect a prize she has won in a contest organized by a soft-drinks company. The prize is a beautiful new car. All Delia has to do now is appear in front of the camera in a commercial. All goes well until it becomes clear that Delia and her parents have very different ideas about what to do with the new car. Meanwhile, the contest's sponsor needs a radiant prize-winner with a gleaming smile. A wicked satire and a psychological portrait of a society perverted by its slavery to capitalism and consumerism

A documentary filmmaker is filming an old Securitate officer with a hidden camera. He suspects that, 60 years ago, the officer had followed and photographed a famous monk turned civilian – a real character, now about to be sanctified. The former spy is now being spied upon, but things turn out badly.

Accidentally receiving a Romanian Medal of Honor, a 75-years-old retiree uses it to regain respect from his family.

Two different views of the execution of Romanian wartime dictator Ion Antonescu confront one another. On one side is silent footage recorded in 1946 by cameraman Ovidiu Gologan, and on the other side are scenes from a biographical film shot five decades later by director Sergiu Nicolaescu.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Robert travels, together with his daughter, from Tulcea to Bucharest. Robert has to take some black spawn to Mrs. Zina, a wealthy woman who lives in a select neighborhood in the capital. For his daughter, this is the first visit to the capital.

This documentary is meant to open a window, past prejudice and intolerance, into the lives of Cristi and George, two young men whose only crime is that they are deeply in love.

Restless teenager Horia takes off on his father's old motorbike in a cross-country journey to reunite with his love. On the road, he is joined by Stela, a sassy 13-year-old, and an unlikely friendship blooms.

In a torrid summer day in Bucharest, the priest Florin Florescu is called to a dying woman's side for saying a prayer.

A film composed entirely of archival photographs and documents related to the Iași Pogrom of June 1941. The first part of the film consists of photographs of the victims, accompanied by statements and testimonies about their fate. The second part, shorter, is a montage of photos of the pogrom itself.

Velicanu considers himself a fulfilled person. He's got money, a new villa, married a younger woman and has a son from a previous marriage. Before the holidays he has to leave everything in order, but things start to get complicated. The crisis at the end of the day make him wonder whatever he is indeed a happy, fulfilled person...

During the summer of 1937, Emanuel, a young man in his early twenties, is committed to a sanatorium on the Black Sea coast for treatment of his bone tuberculosis. The treatment consists of painful spine punctures that confine him to a plaster on a stretcher-bed. Little by little, as Emanuel gets accustomed to the sadness of his new life, he discovers that inside the sanatorium there is still a life to be lived to the fullest.

On Christmas Eve, a taxi driver takes home a man returning from working abroad.

A compilation of short films by director Radu Jude: "The Marshal’s Two Executions" (2018), "Punish and Discipline" (2019), "Semiotic Plastic" (2021), "Caricaturana" (2021), "The Potemkinists" (2022), and "Memories from The Eastern Front" (2022).

Punish: a reading of parts of a novel in which a military officer gives a clinical, amoral account about his role in the violent oppression of revolutionaries in 1848. Discipline: a collection of photographs of a chubby and harmless soldier at home and at work from the 1950s to the 70s.

Film student Cătălina teams up with ex-rock star Marchizu' to film his comeback music video, but his resemblance to a childhood nightmare begins to blur reality. The encounter makes her question her memory and identity.

The documentary follows and underground benevolent network of people who are buying chemotherapy drugs abroad and transporting them to Romanian patients, since in Romania chemotherapy drugs are not available.

An old man tries to play backgammon with friends while babysitting his granddaughter, who's terrified of the young suicide in their building.

Camil wakes up one night without a penis. The nightmare continues when his partner also disappears after meeting a former lover. Camil sets out to find her and - wearing female clothes - joins a secret community dedicated to fertility, somewhere near a lake. And what he finds there will prove even more disturbing than his recent misadventures...

A documentary-essay which shows Costică Axinte's stunning collection of pictures depicting a Romanian small town in the thirties and forties. The narration, composed mostly from excerpts taken from the diary of a Jewish doctor from the same era, tells the rising of the antisemitism and eventually a harrowing depiction of the Romanian Holocaust.

A father and son go to town to try to fix a broken TV set.

Inspired by an idea from Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, director Radu Jude silently flips through satirical lithographs by 19th-century French artist Honoré-Victorin Daumier. Soon, the caricatures’ original texts are read out. Finally, the caricatures are used as commentary for actual news.

Ivo, manager of a campsite on the shores of the Black Sea, refuses to bury the corpse of yet another dolphin rejected by the sea, because it has holes this time, as if it had been hit by bullets. All the vacationers and inhabitants of the surrounding area are involved in one way or another in an unprecedented war that is breaking out with the police, local and environmental institutions. (Source: cineuropa)

Ștefania emerges from years of self-induced amnesia. She reveals the overwhelming memories of her childhood spent in Romanian hospitals due to a misdiagnosis. Now in her 30s, she seeks to reconnect with her alienated body and her inner child Nia through dance. This becomes her new language on the path to healing her wounds and relationship with her mother.

A research center in Sukhumi, the capital of today’s Abkhazia. Legend has it that it was built at the end of the 1920s to create a hybrid between man and monkey. The hypothetical creature never saw the light of day, but people and primates, like sad relics of the past, live together in the derelict wings of the medical institute to this very day. [KVIFF]