The New Year that Never Came
Back to listSynopsis
On 20th December 1989, Romania stands on the brink of revolution. The streets are alive with demonstrations, students mock the regime through art, and New Year’s shows glorify Ceauşescu. Yet, in the discomfort of their unheated homes, families grapple with personal conflicts and the omnipresent Secret Police. Six seemingly disconnected lives intersect in unexpected ways. As tensions reach boiling point, an explosive moment unites them, culminating in the dramatic fall of Ceauşescu and the communist regime. In the stirring words of the director, “this film offers a symphonic view of a historical event that has perhaps been portrayed too often in our films through only one lens.” A cinematic achievement that manifests the unique power of the medium to glorify the power of the here-andnow and togetherness, revealing the “single moment in time that connects everyone to a shared consciousness.”
Screenings
Stavros Tornes
Olympion
Cast and crew
Bogdan Mureșanu
Award-winning Romanian writer and director Bogdan Mureșanu, born in 1974, shifted from literature and advertising to cinema with continued success. Since his debut in 2008 with the script for The Human Torch (won the Transilvania International Film Festival scriptwriting competition), his work has covered animation, documentaries, fiction films and TV series. He is a member of the European Film Academy and best known as the scriptwriter of Sandals, a short animated film that won numerous international awards, including the Youth Jury Award at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020. He is also known as the director of The Christmas Gift, winner of the European Film Academy Award for Best Short Film 2019 and another 72 awards from 200 festivals, including the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, Best European Short Film at Alcine European Film Festival and three awards at Tampere Film Festival. His short art documentary Negruzzi 14 was showcased at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2016.
2013 Half Shaved (short)
2016 Negruzzi 14 (short doc)
2016 Spid (short)
2018 The Christmas Gift (short)
2020 The Merry-Go-Round (short)
2024 The New Year that Never Came
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