12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

A local talk show host organizes an alcoholic professor and a pensioner known for playing Santa Claus to decide whether there was ever a revolution in their town Vaslui.

Director:

Corneliu Porumboiu

Writer:

Corneliu Porumboiu

Stars:

Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru

12 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mircea Andreescu	...	Emanoil Piscoci
Teodor Corban	...	Virgil Jderescu
Ion Sapdaru	...	Tiberiu Manescu
Mirela Cioaba	...	Doamna Manescu
Luminita Gheorghiu	...	Doamna Jderescu
Cristina Ciofu	...	Vali
Lucian Iftime	...	Lica
Annemarie Chertic	...	Vera
Petrica Sapdaru	...	Petrica
Catalin Paraschiv	...	Barman
George Guoqingyun	...	Chen
Constantin Dita	...	Tibi
Daniel Badale	...	Professor
Marius Rogojinski	...	Vecin (as Marius Rogojinschi)
Aurelia Tocu	...	Maricica Dima (voice)

Storyline

It's the 22nd of December. Sixteen years have passed since the revolution, and in a small town Christmas is about to come. Piscoci, an old retired man is preparing for another Christmas alone. Manescu, the history teacher, tries to keep up with his debts. Jderescu, the owner of a local television post, seems not to be so interested in the upcoming holidays. For him, the time to face history has come. Along with Manescu and Piscoci, he is trying to answer for himself a question which for 16 years has not had an answer: "Was it or wasn't it a revolution in their town?"

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Plot Keywords:

revolution | teacher | debt | question mark in title | question in title | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

29 September 2006 (Romania)

Also Known As:

12:08 East of Bucharest

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

€200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,586, 10 June 2007, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$88,066, 26 August 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

42 Km Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When a woman and her daughter visit old man Piscoci and ask him to be Santa Claus, the boom mic bobs in and out of the frame at the top of the screen multiple times throughout the shot.

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: The Best of 2007 (2007)

User Reviews

A slow motion towards the essential

A very good piece of work that seems slow when you watch it and is very effective in the end. It makes you sad and hopeful at the same time. After having gone through revolution the actors are sucked up by their daily struggles about money, love and dignity. The pictures are dark and don't make you want to go to Romania in December. Nevertheless it is a must for everybody who is interested in understanding Romanian culture. But first of all it is a contribution to the national discourse in Romania itself. I would like to see more of the process of Romanian self-reflection. Unfortunately Romanian films are hardly available on DVD outside of the country.