Country: Romania • Serbia | Genre: Fiction, hystorical, tragicomedy | Year: 2024 | Duration: 138’ | In Romanian with Ukrainian and English subtitles
About the film
December 1989. The Ceaușescu regime is living out its final days. The first mass protests against the dictatorship are already breaking out in Romania, which the authorities are brutally suppressing, but news reaches Bucharest in fragments. In this anxious time, the fates of six people are intertwined in tragicomic chaos. A factory worker panics over his son's letter to Santa Claus, in which he writes that his father wants Ceaușescu dead. An actress seeks to avoid participating in a New Year's show dedicated to the dictator, and a television producer tries to save the broadcast. His son, meanwhile, plans to flee the country – he is being followed by a secret service agent, who himself has to deal with a stubborn mother who refuses to move to a new apartment.
Reasons to watch
The film weaves six stories into a single nerve-wracking day – the 24 hours leading up to the Romanian Revolution. It is a precise and apt portrait of the era, showing how fragile dictatorship can be – and how unexpectedly its end begins. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the top prize in the Orizzonti section – the second most prestigious after the main competition.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Bogdan Mureşanu is a Romanian director and screenwriter. He began his career in literature, later worked in advertising, and then moved to film. He wrote, directed, and produced his first short film, Half Shaved, in 2012. The film was selected for participation in numerous international festivals. His second short film, The Christmas Gift, won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival in 2019. The New Year That Never Came is Mureşanu’s feature debut.
Festivals
Venice Film Festival, 2024 (Best Film of the Orizzonti section)
Seattle International Film Festival, 2025 (Special Mention)
European Film Awards, 2024
Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2025 (Jury prize of the New Voices/New Visions section)