Cristian Mungiu
Birth : 1968-04-27, Iasi, Romania
History
Cristian Mungiu (Romanian: [kristiˈan munˈd͡ʒi.u]; born 27 April 1968; Iași) is a Romanian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He won the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for his film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", which he wrote and directed. He has also won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director, at the 2012 and 2016 Cannes Film Festivals, for his films "Beyond the Hills" and "Graduation".
After studying English literature at the University of Iaşi, he worked for a few years as a teacher and as a journalist. After that, he enrolled at the University of Film in Bucharest to study film directing. After graduating in 1998, Mungiu made several short films. In 2002, he debuted with his first feature film, Occident. Occident enjoyed critical success, winning prizes in several film festivals and being featured in Director’s Fortnight at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2007 Mungiu wrote and directed his second feature, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The film was received enthusiastically, attracting critical praise and being selected in the official competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it eventually won the coveted Palme d'Or for feature film, marking the first time that prize was awarded to a Romanian filmmaker.
Mungiu has said that early Miloš Forman and Robert Altman are important filmmakers who influenced him. He also respects the realism of Bicycle Thieves, among other famous realistic films. Mungiu is the brother of political analyst Alina Mungiu-Pippidi.
Producer
1963. The young nurse Anna begins working in the juvenile ward of a mental hospital. There she meets Lucia, a fifteen-year-old schizophrenic. Against the backdrop of a struggle between Dr. Marie and the rigid Dr. Oreste to reform patient treatment, a relationship between Anna and Lucia develops, forcing them to make decisive choices for their respective lives.
Thanks
32 years after the fall of communism and one hundred years after the founding of the Romanian Communist Party, three young independent filmmakers set out to make their feature film debut with a film about an invisible enemy, the radioactive cloud since 1986. Although a large part of the artistic team of the film The Lost Year 1986 was born after the 1989 Revolution, they will tell with humor and sincerity the story of a family from a village in communist Romania, affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Producer
A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid him of the unresolved fears that have gripped him. He’s also eager to see his ex-lover Csilla and preoccupied about his old father, Otto. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin sliver of apparent understanding and calm.
Screenplay
A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid him of the unresolved fears that have gripped him. He’s also eager to see his ex-lover Csilla and preoccupied about his old father, Otto. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin sliver of apparent understanding and calm.
Director
A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid him of the unresolved fears that have gripped him. He’s also eager to see his ex-lover Csilla and preoccupied about his old father, Otto. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin sliver of apparent understanding and calm.
Producer
Mircea, former Intelligence officer, finds out that his son from has gone missing in the mountains. He travels there to find him. After days of searches, Mircea put his own rescue team together, leading to conflict with the local squad.
Co-Producer
Cielo is a mother whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands and transforms from housewife into a vengeful militant.
Thanks
Dorin, a young man from the country, agrees for money, to take an exam for a Bachelor's Degree on behalf of someone else. He's got just one night to prepare and get in character, while facing social awkwardness and the absurdity of a flawed system.
Thanks
Film director, Andrei, and his girlfriend, Paula, face the news of becoming parents. While the future mother is struggling with no worthy role models, the soon-to-be father must reconcile with the figure of his own father, now a monk on Mount Athos.
Thanks
The hero of a terrible action film realizes he's fictional and tries to escape with the help of a mysterious filmmaker.
Producer
While working in the US on a temporary visa as a caretaker, Mara, a 30 year-old single mother from Romania, marries Daniel, an American. After the arrival of her son Dragos, everything seems to have fallen perfectly into place. When the process of getting a green card veers unexpectedly off course, however, Mara is faced with abuses of power on every level and forced to answer a dark question about herself – how far would you go to get what you want?
Thanks
Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.
Associate Producer
Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.
Producer
A humble Romanian actor in his 40's, hardly surviving between a complicated part in a musical, a depressed wife, and the obsession of an imminent, devastating earthquake, becomes the victim of his manipulative father.
Producer
Romeo Aldea, a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding. Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.
Writer
Romeo Aldea, a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding. Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.
Director
Romeo Aldea, a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding. Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.
Producer
Skugos is the perfect town where all is sunny and nobody laughs. Mr.Q discovers laughter and sets off to look for the place where people enjoy laughing. Will he find out that laughter means happiness?
Thanks
A stranger arrives in Sarajevo and barges into Damir's reclusive world. Little by little she takes over his life. She absorbs his dreams, until finally she threaten his very existence.
Producer
A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Screenplay
A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Director
A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Producer
Sunday afternoon. 42 Celsius degrees. Nothing to eat. No shops. A man in his 50s tries to survive.
Co-Producer
How do we carry on living, afterwards. When we've grown up under a dictatorship, when we shaped our lives under a dictatorship. When it's part of us. Second part of a trilogy about Romania after Stella (2007).
Executive Producer
One year in the life of Albin and his family of shepherds in the North of Transylvania, their day to day routines, and their attempts to adapt to a new world where traditions are gradually replaced by modern values.
Story
Matilda takes a one-day release from jail to attend her mother’s funeral, with no intention of returning. The clock is ticking as Matilda tries one last time to get help from her family and is forced to confront her troubled past.
Writer
Lost and found in between plane rides.
Writer
Tales from the Golden Age is composed of 6 unconventional short stories, each one dealing with the late communist period in Romania, told through its urban myths from the perspective of ordinary people. The title of the film refers to the alluded "Golden Age" of the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime.
Producer
Tales from the Golden Age is composed of 6 unconventional short stories, each one dealing with the late communist period in Romania, told through its urban myths from the perspective of ordinary people. The title of the film refers to the alluded "Golden Age" of the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime.
Director
Tales from the Golden Age is composed of 6 unconventional short stories, each one dealing with the late communist period in Romania, told through its urban myths from the perspective of ordinary people. The title of the film refers to the alluded "Golden Age" of the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime.
Producer
In 2007, Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" became the first Romanian film to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes. At this time, there were fewer than 50 cinemas in Romania, so it was arranged for a 35mm print to be taken on a tour of the provinces to provide people with an opportunity to see the landmark film. This short documentary explores the logistical challenges of the tour and includes interviews with the projectionists and audience members.
Producer
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
Screenplay
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
Director
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
Associate Producer
The plot focuses on the lives of the soon to be married Stefan, a German working in Romania for a wealthy and eccentric printing company owner, Nicu Iorga and his soon-to-be bride Brîndușa, who is Nicu's secretary.
Writer
Two railroad men are living in a lineman's cabin. One night a stranger has an accident on the beach nearby that will change everything.
Writer
The young Romanian woman Ioana tries to find her missing friend Tomescu in Berlin.
Writer
Six young filmmakers from Central and East Europe developed shorts about the theme of "generation".
Director
Six young filmmakers from Central and East Europe developed shorts about the theme of "generation".
Writer
"Occident" is a bitter comedy about the people who want to emigrate from Romania, and about those who stay behind. The movie has a rich, interesting structure: there are three different stories - a weeklong in the film - that cross, interconnect and happen in the same period. The characters influence each others lives, sometimes even without knowing. Main characters from one story become secondary characters in another story. At the same time, scenes from the first part of the movie bring unexpected facts when seen the second or the third time. The stories do not have just one ending: the first story ends in each of the third parts in a different point, suggesting radically different solutions for the characters. The way in which the director fits time and links events together often produces thematically unexpected results.
Director
"Occident" is a bitter comedy about the people who want to emigrate from Romania, and about those who stay behind. The movie has a rich, interesting structure: there are three different stories - a weeklong in the film - that cross, interconnect and happen in the same period. The characters influence each others lives, sometimes even without knowing. Main characters from one story become secondary characters in another story. At the same time, scenes from the first part of the movie bring unexpected facts when seen the second or the third time. The stories do not have just one ending: the first story ends in each of the third parts in a different point, suggesting radically different solutions for the characters. The way in which the director fits time and links events together often produces thematically unexpected results.
Writer
In a shabby apartment somewhere in Romania, a man obsessively zap between his TV channels despite the wife's complaints and nagging. But where his wife fails, a little man inside the TV will appear and tell Sotul a thing or two about the true mechanics of television zapping...
Director
In a shabby apartment somewhere in Romania, a man obsessively zap between his TV channels despite the wife's complaints and nagging. But where his wife fails, a little man inside the TV will appear and tell Sotul a thing or two about the true mechanics of television zapping...
Writer
Director
Writer
Director
Second Assistant Director Trainee
Beowulf is a wanderer who learns about a man-eating creature called Grendel, which comes in the night to devour warriors trapped at the Outpost. The Outpost is ruled by Hrothgar. He has a daughter, whose husband may have been murdered by the Outpost's master of arms.
Writer
A short film made during film school by Cristian Mungiu.
Director
A short film made during film school by Cristian Mungiu.
First Assistant Director
A young teenager wins a contest for a "Medieval Adventure" from a soda company. The winners, plus a film crew from the soda company arrive at the castle for the adventure. During the night, a spell cast over 600 years prior brings the castle and all the people in it back to 1383. The evil Lord Raykin plans on retrying to take the castle. It is up to the group to stop him, and thereby return to the 20th century. They enlist the help of the former court magician, Percival, to help them.
Second Assistant Director
In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.
Writer
A family at odds with each other.
Director
A family at odds with each other.
Writer
Student film made by Cristian Mungiu.
Director
Student film made by Cristian Mungiu.
Director
A Jewish teenager who managed to escape from the Nazis and found refuge in the mountains where he took part in an organized resistance movement along with other Jewish of diverse backgrounds and generations.
