Sandu Mihai Gruia

The Deadman's Bride

In the Carpathians mountains, in a remote village, Irina lives with her brother, both orphans. They help their adoptive parents with the household chores. The young woman, born deaf-mute, has only one friend in the village: old Ciorsak, the church bell ringer. As often as she can, Irina retreats in nature, among wild animals that roam through the surrounding forests. In this idilic setting, suspended in time, a french crew arrives to make a documentary film about local traditions and customs, baptism, wedding and funeral. Martin, the cameraman, falls madly in love with Irina, who accepts his love. As the film confronts the beliefs and superstitions of the villagers, their love gradually turns into a macabre ritual.

21 Rubies

When a political turmoil brings a Romanian prosecutor into the spotlight, she is offered the position of attorney general.

TeleEnciclopedia

Happy Funerals

Three heavy boozers - a Romanian, a Russian and a Bulgarian - are tripling away their... happiness, into vodka, at "The Happy Immigrant", a joint kept by a Turk. The fauna of this venue is made up out of the Babel Tower's survivors: immigrants who had chosen Romania, as a country where everything is possible. The predictions included... A police raid chases away the pub's barflies. The three professional boozers stop from running just in front of a fortune teller expert in a niche field: death prediction. The rest is entertainment! Although we are all indebted to one death, some refuse to pay this debt. They don't want to die when it was written for them. Or just predicted...

Shadows

Relu is a family man. He has two children, a wife and a double life. Seen through the eyes of his family, Relu Oncescu appears to be an ordinary taxi driver. No one suspects that Relu works as a collector for Capitanu', a local mobster. Neither of the two worlds (his family and the mafia) knows of the other's existence. Relu manages to keep everything under control, but not for long. After accidentally killing a man, he tries to get out of the underworld, but he can't find his way back. Day by day, the secrets he keeps become increasingly oppressive and the lies begin to surface, one by one.

Gruber's Journey

During the German and Romanian invasion of Soviet Union in 1941, Italian writer Curzio Malaparte arrives in Iași to treat a severe allergy. Finding himself in a desperate situation, he tries to find a Jewish doctor, but soon discovers evidence of a devastating pogrom against the Jewish community. Seeking help in the midst of a city plunged in terror and confusion, Malaparte begins to uncover the horrors of an oppressive regime, in an atmosphere marked by indifference and hidden secrets.

Sacrificiul

La Oras

Amen.

Kurt Gerstein—a member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS—is appalled to discover that a poison gas he helped discover is being used to kill Jews. Driven by his conscience to alert the rest of the world, Gerstein teams up with a young Jesuit priest, Riccardo Fontana, but their protestations fall on deaf ears in the Vatican.

Code Unknown

A series of events unfold like a chain reaction, all stemming from a minor event that brings the film's five characters together. Set in Paris, France, Anne is an actress whose boyfriend Georges photographs the war in Kosovo. Georges' brother, Jean, is looking for the entry code to Georges' apartment. These characters' lives interconnect with a Romanian immigrant and a deaf teacher.