The end of the Romanian New Cinema has already been discussed for quite some years by now. The rather fragile critical consensus is that the end of this aesthetically and thematically coagulated movement was decisively influenced by the influx of local young directors who released debuts that opened the floor for new approaches in terms of discourse, both visual and thematic (with names such as Ivana Mladenovici, Adina Pintilie, Marius Olteanu, Bogdan Theodor Olteanu, Ruxandra Ghițescu, Monica Stan or Eugen Jebeleanu), but also especially by the fact that the Wave's leading figures slowly abandoned the rigors of realism and/or the current's typical topoi and subjects. In the last four years, we have witnessed how the likes of Puiu, Porumboiu and (especially) Jude have reinvented themselves as filmmakers. Even directors like Radu Muntean, who haven't strayed that far away from the Wave's signature realism, are dabbling in genre cinema elements, like in Întregalde. Up to now, the main unanswered question was whether the Wave's most (internationally) successful filmmaker, Cristian Mungiu, whose name and films are practically synonymous with the movement after his 2007 Palme D'Or for 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, will remain faithful to the type of realism that has brought him to fame.

Flavia Dima

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Film critic & journalist. Collaborates with local and international outlets, programs a short film festival - BIEFF, does occasional moderating gigs and is working on a PhD thesis about home movies. At Films in Frame, she writes the monthly editorial - The State of Cinema and is the magazine's main festival reporter.

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