TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE (PART 1) (Contes de l’Âge d’Or), Directed by Cristian Mungiu (2009)

The last fifteen years of Ceaușescu’s regime were the worst in Romania’s history. Yet, the official propaganda of the time called it the “Golden Age.”

Cristian Mungiu’s Tales from the Golden Age brings to the screen some of the most famous “urban legends.” The stories are simultaneously comic, strange, and moving, drawing inspiration from a daily life that was often surreal, where humor was the only means of survival for an entire people. The film recreates the atmosphere of the era and paints, in subtle strokes, a portrait of a country subjected to the perverse logic of a dictatorship.

"These portrayals of bureaucracy recall the tone of the Czech New Wave films and the old Italian comedies, tinged with irony." — Jean-Luc Douin, Le Monde
Presented by the filmmaker, moderated by the magazine Kometa.

Duration: 1h20
€10 / €8 / €6 / €5