Canadian Premiere
Romanian auteur Radu Jude tosses off films the way other people send emails. Dracula is his fourth feature since Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World in 2023 (Kontinental ’25 also screens at this year’s VIFF), and at 167 minutes, it’s at least half a dozen movies for the price of one. Ironically, it purports to be the work of an uninspired hack director who has previously agreed to make a commercial film about Dracula, but who has no ideas — so he turns to AI.
Issuing prompts based on the Count’s storied cinematic legacy — a touch more Murnau here, some Coppola there — Jude’s on-screen alter ego more than fulfills his mandate to include “sex, nudity, emotion, violence, lots of blood, chases, jokes,” without remotely delivering the “super-commercial” movie he promised the producers. Rather, this is a bawdy, comic deconstruction of Romania’s most exploitable IP from Eastern Europe’s last refusenik, a rude Jude burlesque with something to offend everyone.
Supported by
Media Partner
Adonis Tanța, Gabriel Spahiu, Oana Maria Zaharia, Andrada Balea, Ilinca Manolache, Șerban Pavlu
Romania/Austria/
Luxembourg/Brazil
2025
In Romanian, English and German with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Alex Teodorescu, Rodrigo Teixeira
Screenwriter
Radu Jude
Cinematography
Marius Panduru
Editor
Cătălin Cristuțiu
Art Director
Andreea Popa
Radu Jude
Radu Jude is the Romanian director and screenwriter of numerous critically acclaimed films, beginning with his feature debut The Happiest Girl in the World in 2009. In 2021, his film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and its follow-up, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, received the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2023. His latest feature, Kontinental ’25, a low-budget independent production, was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2025 Berlinale.
Filmography: The Happiest Girl in the World (2009); Aferim! (2015); Scarred Hearts (2016); I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (2018); Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021); Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
A. Rimbaud
Patrick Wang (The Bread Factory) presents the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this staggeringly adventurous and deeply considered movie, a three-hour, one-man show quite unlike anything we have seen before. "Poetic, audacious and singular."
The 39 Steps
In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.