Cristian Mungiu (; born 27 April 1968) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. He won the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2007. British filmmaker Stephen Frears served as jury president for the main competition. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or for the drama film ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 ...

for his film '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'', which he wrote and directed. He has also won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Director, at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

s, for his films '' Beyond the Hills'' and ''

Graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

''.

Early life

Mungiu was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

. His sister is political analyst

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (; born March 12, 1964) is a Romanian political scientist, academic, journalist and writer. She currently holds the professorship of Comparative Public Policy at the Department of Political Science of LUISS Guido Carli in Rom ...

. After studying

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

at the University of Iaşi, he worked for a few years as a teacher and as a journalist. After that, he enrolled at the University of Film in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to study film directing. After graduating in 1998, Mungiu made several

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Career

In 2002, he debuted with his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

, ''

Occident The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of the term ''Orient'', referring to the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term occidental ...

'', which enjoyed critical success, winning prizes in several

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s and being featured in Director's Fortnight at the

2002 Cannes Film Festival The 55th Cannes Film Festival took place from 15 to 26 May 2002. American filmmaker David Lynch served as jury president for the main competition. Virginie Ledoyen hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski ...

. In 2007, Mungiu wrote and directed his second feature, '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days''. The film was received enthusiastically, attracting critical praise and being selected in the official competition at the

, where it won the

for feature film, marking the first time that prize was awarded to a Romanian filmmaker. His 2012 film '' Beyond the Hills'' was screened in competition at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

, where Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, and Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan shared the award for Best Actress. The film was also selected as the Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the

85th Academy Awards The 85th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2012 and took place on February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p ...

, making the January shortlist. In 2013, he produced Nae Caranfil's ''6.9 on Richter''. In April 2013, he was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place from 15 to 26 May 2013. American filmmaker Steven Spielberg was the Jury President for the main competition. French actress Audrey Tautou hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. The French film ''Blu ...

. In 2016, he directed the tragedy ''Graduation'', which premiered at the

, where Mungiu won the award for Best Director. The film was in competition for the

. Mungiu was the Jury President of the Semaine de la Critique non-competitive section of the

2021 Cannes Film Festival The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American filmmaker Spike Lee was invited to be the president of the jury for the main competition for the fes ...

. At the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Mungiu's feature '' R.M.N.'' was selected to compete for the

. The film's coproducers include the

Dardenne brothers Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne (; born 21 April 1951) and Luc Dardenne (born 10 March 1954), collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. Their work tend ...

' Les Films du Fleuve.

Influences and style

Mungiu has said that

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech Americans, Czech-American film film director, director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the Uni ...

and

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

are important filmmakers who influenced him. He also respects the realism of ''

Bicycle Thieves ''Bicycle Thieves'' (), also known as ''The Bicycle Thief'', is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which h ...

'', among other famous realistic films.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Honours

* Romanian Royal Family: 70th Knight of the Royal Decoration of the Cross of the Romanian Royal HouseCrucea Casei Regale a României
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References

External links

* * (Romanian
7 scenarii (7 Scripts)
Editura LiterNet - screenplays volume by Cristian Mungiu
interview with ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' director Cristian Mungiu
at -films.net * In-depth analyses o
Mungiu's films
and o
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mungiu, Cristian 1968 births Living people Romanian film directors Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film alumni Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners Directors of Palme d'Or winners European Film Award for Best Director winners Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Film people from Iași Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners