Morelia International Film Festival

A graduate of the University of Film in Bucharest, Mungiu began his career as an assistant director in a number of films, working for renowned directors like Bertrand Tavernier and Radu Mihaileanu. Since then, he’s directed and produced various short films and documentaries, always with the express desire to capture a fragment of reality—evoke a feeling, document an historical event, or reproduce the atmosphere of his immediate social environment. With his first feature West —a film that also garnered critical acclaim when it was screened at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes— he dealt with issues of migration and national identity. In 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Mungiu once again touches on the theme of national identity, but his time, from a much more intimate angle. The film, whose title references the pregnancy of its protagonist, deals with the difficult subject of abortion in Romania and it’s penalization during the communist regime of Ceaucescu. Without adopting a moralizing position or resorting to propaganda, Mungiu conjures the repressive environment of 1980s Romania, focusing on the trials and tribulations of two young women. The film is striking for its rigorous realism—its extensive use of long shots and natural lighting. Mungiu also prefers to shoot exclusively on location and exploits off-screen space as if to imply that life goes on regardless of the camera’s persistent recording. His is a cinema of intuition—where the film’s rhythm becomes the rhythm of its characters.