Cristian Mungiu
Biography
Cristian Mungiu (Romanian: [kristiˈan munˈdʒi.u]) is a Romanian filmmaker. A figure in the Romanian New Wave, his films usually explore Romania's contemporary society and politics. Mungiu is best known for his Palme d'Or–winning films 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Fjord. For Beyond the Hills and Graduation, he won Best Screenplay and Best Director prizes at the 65th and 69th Cannes Film Festivals, respectively. 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. Mungiu is the brother of political analyst Alina Mungiu-Pippidi.
Known For & Full Filmography2 Titles
Movie - 2023, 2h 15m • as Self
In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”
Movie - 2009, 2h 15m • as Self
A documentary about the New Romanian Cinema. "Cinemaguerilla" brings together over 30 interviews with directors, producers, actors, film historians and critics about what unites and what separates the New Wave of Romanian films.