A scintillating satire of masculinity and cultural difference, California Dreamin’ imagines an encounter between a Romanian village and a troop of Kosovo-bound American marines stranded by a corrupt railroad official. Nemescu proves himself a 21st century Breugel with his sprawling tapestry of modern peasant life and his rich caricatures of bureaucratic inefficiency and unfettered human desire. Revealing Nemescu as one of the New Romanian Cinema rising stars, California Dreamin’ also tragically marked the end of his brief career. Killed in a car accident during post-production, Nemescu shot the entire film but died before he could finish editing.