Romanian Director Cristian Mungiu awarded the Palme d

Mungiu, 39, was competing against internationally-renowned Directors, such as Emir Kusturica, Gus van Sant, the Coen brothers and Wong Kar Wai.  The film “4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile” is based on a real story of a pregnant student who tries to have an abortion in the 80s in communist Romania, at a time when abortions were strictly prohibited, and of the friend who helps.

Upon receiving the Palme d’Or, Mungiu said the award does not belong to him alone, but to the team who worked on the movie and to the young generation of Romanian filmmakers.

“It seems like a fairy tale. One year ago we didn’t have any idea about this project and some six months ago, we didn’t have any money to make it and finally, we were just hoping to be in Cannes in any kind of competition,” he said.
He added that he and his team strongly believed in this film project. “This Palme d’Or is good news for makers of low budget movies,” he said.

Mungiu also told the media that he hoped he made Romanians “happy about something other than soccer.”
“4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile” also won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award and the Cinema Prize of the French National Education System.

The movie has already been sold in several European countries, the U.S., South America, Japan and South Korea.
Mungiu is following in the footsteps of other Romanian directors awarded a variety of prizes at international film festivals, including Catalin Mitulescu who won a Palme d’Or for his short film in 2004, and Cristi Puiu, Director of the internationally-famous “Moartea domnului Lazarescu” (“The Death of Mister Lazarescu”). Last year, Catalin Mitulescu was awarded the Camera d’Or for a movie about the 1989 anti-communist revolution, “A fost sau n-a fost?” (“East of Bucharest”)