The film follows the story of the friendship between a Romanian security guard in a supermarket and a Turkish refugee he finds at the Romanian-Hungarian border and who asks for help to cross the border. Crişan (Palme d'Or winner for Megatron in 2006) was inspired by a true story he read in a local newspaper from his hometown of Salonta, and wrote a script that won the first feature contest organized by the National Centre for Cinema (www.cncinema.abt.ro) in 2008, receiving a grant of €270,000 for the €890,000 budget film.

Crişan continued his collaboration with the producer Anca Puiu and Mandragora (www.mandragora.ro) who also produced Megatron. The film is co-produced by Marianne Slot of Slot Machine (www.slotmachine.fr), and Ivan Angelusz and Peter Reich from Katapult Film (www.katapultfilm.hu). The shooting took place in Romania and Hungary in 2009. The cast includes the Turkish actor Yalcin Yilmaz and Andras Hathazi, Elvira Râmbu, Dorin C. Zachei, Molnár Levente, Răzvan Vicoveanu and Alina Berzunţeanu. Tudor Mircea is the DOP.

At Locarno Film Festival, it awarded the Special Jury Prize, the Ecumenical Jury Prize, the 3rd Prize of the Junior Jury, and the Don Quijote Prize given by IFFS (the International Federation of Film Societies). Les Films du Losange (www.filmsdulosange.fr) is handling the international sales. The film will be distributed in Romania by Mandragora Movies. Puiu told FNE that the local premiere will probably take place on September 30.

Production information

Mandragora

12 A, Docenţilor street, ap. 3

Sector 1, 011403, Bucureşti, România

Phone: +40. 21. 222.05.58

Fax: +40 21. 222.05.57

www.mandragora.ro

Anca Puiu: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Slot Machine

10 rue Sainte Anastase

75003 Paris, France

Phone : +33.1. 49. 96. 62. 62

Fax : +33. 1. 49. 96. 62. 63

www.slotmachine.fr

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Katapult Film Filmgyártó és Forgalmazó Kft

H-1023 Budapest Frankel Leó út 21-23. III/8

Phone: +36/1 438-0894, +36/1 438-0895, +36/30 416-6627

www.katapultfilm.hu

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Les Films de Losange

22, avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie

75116 Paris - France

Agathe Valentin: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Credits

Director: Marian Crişan

Script: Marian Crişan

DOP: Tudor Mircea

Editor: Tudor Pojoni

Cast: Yalcin Yilmaz

Andras Hathazi

Elvira Râmbu

Dorin C. Zachei

Molnár Levente

Razvan Vicoveanu

Alina Berzunţeanu

Ion Ruşcuţ

Daniel Vulcu

Dankó István

George Voinese

Petre Ghimbăşan

Zenaida Săsăran