North American Premiere
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.
The much-anticipated debut feature film from Bogdan Mureşanu, 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.
Best Film: Orizzonti, Venice 2024; FIPRESCI Award: Premio Valentina Pedicini under 40, Venice 2024
Adrian Vǎncicǎ, Andrei Miercure, Iulian Postelnicu, Emilia Dobrin, Nicoleta Hâncu, Mihai Cǎlin
Romania
2024
In Romanian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Irina Enea, Bogdan Luca
Producer
Irina Enea, Bogdan Luca
Screenwriter
Bogdan Mureşanu
Cinematography
Boroka Biro, Tudor Platon
Editor
Vanja Kovačević, Mircea Lăcătuș
Production Design
Iulia Fulicea, Victor Fulicea
Bogdan Mureşanu
In 2012, Bogdan directed his first short film, Half Shaved, which won the Audience Award at Anonimul IFF and screened at festivals worldwide. In 2016, he completed the short Spid and Negruzzi 14, an art film showcased at the National Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2017, he worked on the animation The Magician and shot The Christmas Gift, which won Best Film at the European Film Awards and was a Top 10 finalist at the 2020 Oscars. The New Year That Never Came is his first feature film.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Chasing Ice
This visually stunning film follows renowned National Geographic photographer James Balog on a harsh Arctic expedition where he captures a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers — undeniable evidence that our planet is in crisis. The screening will be introduced by James Balog.
Dead Lover
A foul-smelling gravedigger's romance ends in tragedy, spurring her to attempt a resurrection through a madcap series of science experiments. Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie’s film is a zany DIY horror that zaps fresh life into Mary Shelley's classic.
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
Sansho the Bailiff
The third of the great Japanese masters (with Ozu and Kurosawa), Mizoguchi is a poet of suffering. There's plenty of that here in his exquisite telling of an ancient folktale about the enslavement of a woman and her two children.