Corneliu Porumboiu, the son of a soccer referee, is one of the directors who defined the Romanian New Wave. Not often a director gets their first feature film awarded at Cannes Film Festival, but that’s what happened to Porumboiu. 12:08 East of Bucharest was the film that put him on the cinema map, but he certainly didn’t stop his explorations there.
Here are some of his films you might like to watch:
- Police, Adjective – 2009
- The Second Game – 2011
- The Treasure – 2015.
What Porumboiu does best, without any judgement or pretense of owning ‘the truth’, is ask important questions. You’re guaranteed to leave any of his films in a state of inquisitiveness.
What about this Romanian New Wave?
In the mid-2000s, Romanian cinema made a leap towards exploring and forging its new identity. Films in the Romanian New Wave are generally defined by minimalism and realism, with black humour a frequent feature. The international film community immediately responded by praising and awarding these films. And so the Romanian New Wave was born.