The New Year That Never Came, a Romanian-Serbian co-production, directed by the Romanian director Bogdan Muresanu’s has won two awards at the Venice Film Festival. The film received the award for the best film of the Orizzonti program as well as the FIPRESCI award.

The film was supported by Romania (Romanian Film Center) and Serbia (the film was supported at the competition for minority co-productions by Film Center Serbia). The film is co-produced by the Serbian production company All Inclusive Films.

Explanation of the jury (FIPRESCI award):

“Among the eligible titles – debut films from the Orizzonti and Settimana Internazionale della Critica sections – we decided to reward a film that stands out for its ambitious and extremely mature direction. Its six different stories seem independent at first, but gradually intertwine into a rare balance of narrative threads. The film culminates in a profound exploration of human behavior shaped by a lingering fear of political repression, shared between generations living under authoritarian rule. We commend this film for its sharp political insight, sophisticated yet entertaining storytelling, masterful tonal balance, and exceptional cast. The FIPRESCI award went to the film The New Year That Didn’t Come by Bogdan Muresanu.”

In addition, the film was awarded two unofficial awards. The film’s director of photography, Boroka Biro, received a special award for best photography, while director Bogdan Muresanu was awarded the Premio Bisato D’Oro screenplay award.

December 20th, 1989, and Ceausescu’s regime is on its last legs. The army is violently suppressing the uprising in Timisoara, but the news reaching Bucharest is scant and sanitized. Six people find themselves in the eye of the storm without necessarily realizing it. A TV director must find a solution for his New Year’s Eve show after a key actress has defected. He will find it in a theater actress who is in trouble because she cannot reach her ex-boyfriend in Timisoara. His son, a student, plans to swim across the Danube to defect to Yugoslavia. The son is watched by an officer of the Securitate secret police, who is struggling to move his mother from an old house slated for demolition to a new apartment she hates. The move is made by a factory worker, who is in a panic after his son writes a letter to Santa saying his father wants Ceausescu dead. All these lives, under the constant and invisible surveillance of the Securitatea, merge into a tragicomedy that culminates with the explosion of a firecracker in the most unlikely hands, starting the Revolution.

Director Bogdan Murešanu also wrote the screenplay, the editors are Vanja Kovačević and Mircea Lacatus, directors of photography are Boroka Biro and Tudor Platon, and set design is by Iulia si Victor Fulicea.

Photo: Razvan Marinescu