Sceneggiatura / Screenplay: Cristi Puiu
Fotografia / Photography: Ivan Grincenco, Silviu Stavilă
Montaggio / Editing: Sebastian Pereanu, Ecaterina Iaschevici
Suono / Sound: Alin Crețu, Alexandru Dumitru, Christophe Vingtrinier
Interpreti / Cast: Bianca Cuculici, Laurențiu Bondarenco, Otilia Panaite, Florin Țibre, Igor Babiac, Roxana Ogrendil, Adelaida Perjoiu, Dorian Boguță, Dragoș Bucur, Marin Cumatrenco, Igor Babiac
Produzione / Produced by: Mandragora, Block Media Management
Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Shellac, actoriedefilm.ro, Chainsaw Europe, Youbesc, Fit4you, Farmacia Ana
Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: Shellac
Different portraits, four short stories, four moments in time capturing the wanderings of a few souls, stuck at the crossroads of History. Oana Pfifer, a young therapist, gradually slips into the net of the questionnaire she submits to her patient. Mihai, Oana’s brother, worrying about the preparations of his birthday, is stuck in a story far bigger than what he can handle. Septimiu, Oana’s husband, concerned about his health, vaguely listens to a strange story his colleague was caught in a while ago. Narcis Patranescu, an organised crime detective, deals with an unsettling dark story while interrogating a young woman at a funeral. After its premiere at the Transilvania IFF, MMXX was presented at San Sebastian and Warsaw IFF in 2023.
“At the origins of the film lies the intention of allowing ourselves – myself, the actors and all the other professionals involved – the chance to restore, through the means of cinema, the bits and the pieces of an experience or event that engaged us as full witnesses. So, relying on the results of two of my previous workshops that I conducted some years ago in Toulouse and Grenoble, I followed this old quest for the ineffable by trying to convert the whole process of filmmaking into an assumed act of confession. If the filmmaker is to a certain extent the witness of its time, I consider MMXX, these four days from a possible diary of the year 2020, to be my own unfinished confession.” (C. Puiu)
Cristi Puiu
Director and screenwriter, one of the leading personality of the so-called ‘Romanian New Wave’, Cristi Puiu was born in Bucharest in 1967. In 2001 he wrote and directed his first feature Stuff and Dough. The film, among the others, won a Special Mention of the Jury of Trieste FF in 2002. In 2004 with Anca Puiu and Alex Munteanu he founded a cinema production company, naming it Mandragora. His second feature, the multi-award-winning The Death of Mister Lazarescu won also the Trieste FF in 2006. Sieranevada, his forth feature, was in competition at Cannes. For his latest feature Malmkrog, opening film of the ‘Encounters’ section at the Berlinale 2020, was awarded Best Director. The Trieste FF presented all his films and in 2021 invited him to hold a masterclass within the 32nd edition of the festival.
Selected filmography
1996 25.12. Bucharest, Gare du nord doc. cm / sf 2001 Marfa și banii (Stuff and Dough); Premi / Awards: Cottbus FF – Premio Speciale della Giuria e Premio Findlig / Special Prize of the Jury and Findlig Prize; Trieste FF – Premio Speciale della Giuria / Special Prize of the Jury 2003 Un cartuș de kent și un pachet de cafea cm / sf; Premi / Awards: Berlinale – Miglior Cortometraggio / Best Short Film 2005 Moartea Domnului Lăzărescu (The Death of Mister Lazarescu / La morte del signor Lazarescu); Premi / Awards: Cannes FF – Miglior film nella sezione “Un Certain Regard” / “Un Certain Regard” Best Film; Trieste FF – Miglior film / Best Feature Film 2010 Aurora; Premi / Awards: Karlovy Vary – Miglior film nella sezione “East of the West” / Best Film in the “East of the West” section 2016 Sieranevada 2020 Malmkrog; Premi / Awards: Berlinale “Encounters” – Miglior regia / Best Director 2023 MMXX