BUCHAREST: The Romanian Film Centre (CNC) has selected Traffic / Jaful secolului by Teodora Ana Mihai as Romania’s candidate for the 98th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the Best International Feature Film category.
Mihai’s sophomore feature is written and coproduced by Cristian Mungiu, and is the first film in Romanian by Anamaria Vartolomei, who left Romania as a child to become a sought-after actress in France.
“In 2012, the international public opinion was horrified by the act of some Romanians who stole some paintings from a museum in the Netherlands and, seemingly, finally set them on fire somewhere in the countryside of Romania. These were paintings by some of the most famous artists in the cultural heritage of humanity. Westerners were shocked. Romanians first seemed amused, then ashamed, and finally irritated: what is our fault for their act? (…) In the context of Romania today and our ambiguous and deceptive relationship with the West, in light of the conflict between sovereignty and progressivism, I believe that Traffic is a good starting point for a deeper and more honest discussion of the society we are part of,” said Cristian Mungiu in a statement.
Traffic won Best Film at the Warsaw IFF 2024, Best Actress (Anamaria Vartolomei) at the Tokyo IFF 2024, the Balkan Film Award at the Sofia IFF, and the Audience Award at the Shanghai IFF.
The film is a Romanian/Belgian/Dutch coproduction, produced by Mindset Productions and coproduced by Les Films du Fleuve, Film i Väst, Filmgate Films, Avanpost Media and Mobra Films. The Romanian producers are Cristian Mungiu, Tudor Reu, and Vlad Rădulescu. The film was backed by the Romanian Film Centre, VAF and CCA Belgium, Nederlands FilmFonds, and Creative Europe – MEDIA.
SBS Films International is handling the sales.