The Christmas Gift

CADOUL DE CRĂCIUN

Romania, Spain

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The Christmas Gift
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Synopsis

Synopsis

On the 20th of December,1989, a few days after Ceausescu's bloody repression in Timisoara, a father’s quiet evening turns to sheer ordeal as he finds out that his little son has mailed a wish letter to Santa. As the kid understood, his father’s desire was to see Ceausescu dead.

Biography

Award-winning writer Bogdan Muresanu has shifted from literature and advertising to cinema. As a screenwriter, he won Best Short in the 2008 HBO TIFF scriptwriting competition with THE HUMAN TORCH which premiered in 2013.
He produced and directed his first short film in 2012, based on his own script, HALF SHAVED.
In 2016, Bogdan finished his next short called SPID. In the same year, his short art film NEGRUZZI 14 was show-cased at the National Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 2018, his short animation film THE MAGICIAN was undergoing pre-production while the short fiction THE CHRISTMAS GIFT was travelling the world winning no less than ten awards in less than six months.
Bogdan is currently working as a scriptwriting consultant for DITTATURA LAST MINUTE, an Italian production, to be directed by Antonio Pisu in 2019.

Filmography:
2019 - OPINCI
2018 - THE CHRISTMAS GIFT
2016 - SPID
2016 - NEGRUZZI 14
2013 - HALF SHAVED

interview

How long did it take to make your short?
One year altogether.

Was it difficult to get financing?
At the beginning, yes.

Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”?
Friendship and bureaucracy.

If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen?
All Roy Anderson films.

What is your next project?
EMERGENCY EXIT, a black comedy on the same concept as THE CHRISTMAS GIFT.

On the 20th of December,1989, a few days after Ceausescu's bloody repression in Timisoara, a father’s quiet evening turns to sheer ordeal as he finds out that his little son has mailed a wish letter to Santa. As the kid understood, his father’s desire was to see Ceausescu dead.

Awards

  • European Short Film 2019

Selections

  • Short Film Candidates

Cast & Crew

  • Directed by: Bogdan Mureşanu
  • Written by: Bogdan Mureşanu
  • Produced by: Bogdan Mureşanu, Vlad Iorga, Victor Dumitrovici, Eduardo M Escribano Solera
  • Cinematography: Tudor Platon
  • Editing: Andrei Bălăşoiu
  • Production Design: Ramona Vârtosu
  • Costume Design: Ramona Vârtosu
  • Make-Up Artist: Bianca Marca
  • Sound Design: Sebastian Zsemlye
  • Cast: Adrian Văncică (father), Ioana Flora (mother)

Director's Statement

Soon, it will be 30 years since the Revolution, and I think that such a film may raise some questions regarding the freedom of expression, personal dignity and other such concepts that have become demonised or have become, in turn, part of an ossified language (not to say a wooden one). In conclusion, I would like to mention that, in my opinion, there have not been enough films about this period in our history (in fact not enough movies were made in a realistic, unmasked manner) and I believe that, more than ever, we need them. Why? To temper nostalgic people or the simply politically disoriented ones (there is now a kind of anti-corporatist, hipster-like left movement) and to recover some of the question marks even if we cannot always give the right answers.

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