12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (12 h 08 à l’est de Bucarest)

In Vaslui, a provincial Romanian town, preparations are underway for Christmas, sixteen years after the revolution that ended communism. As every year, on December 22, the 1989 revolution is discussed on television. Retiree Pișcoci is preparing to spend yet another Christmas alone. Mănescu is waiting for his paycheck to cover his debts. Jderescu, owner of a local TV station, wants to invite ordinary citizens to debate Romanian history on his show. Pișcoci and Mănescu agree to participate. What follows is a long, comedic live debate: “Did a revolution really take place in the town?”
With this first feature, which he both wrote and directed, Corneliu Porumboiu won the Caméra d’or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.