The New Year That Never Came

Kicking off a short season celebrating Romanian film (on Romania’s National Day, no less), Bogdan Mureşanu’s highly acclaimed debut feature was immediately recognized as another impressive statement in the resurgent Romanian New Wave.

1989. After decades of all-pervasive Communist oppression under the brutal Ceaușescu dictatorship, Romania is on the brink of change. Six intertwined stories crisscross throughout Bucharest over the course of a single day that will mark the eve of the Romanian Revolution. Students surreptitiously seek ways to leave the country; a television broadcaster panics when a pre-recorded programme becomes politically untenable; an actress thinks she’s found her big break; a child’s Christmas letter to Santa unintentionally incriminates his father. These parallel tales map out the painful absurdities of lives governed by fear, flecked with grim ironies and hopeful glimpses of a better future.

This polyphonic tragi-comedy shuffles subtle tensions and dry humour with deft craftsmanship. Reflecting national unrest and dissatisfaction through the lens of interfamilial struggles and professional pressures, this is a powerful probe of Romanian political history.

Free screening. Advance booking is recommended.

A confident and, at times, savagely funny work which… builds to a blisteringly powerful conclusion.

Wendy Ide, Screen International