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Gone with the Wine / A Trip to the City / Liviu's Dream

  • Gone with the Wine (Pe aripile vinului)

    Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
    With With Constantin Dita, Ion Sabdaru, Pusa Darie.
    Romania, 2002, digital video, color, 9 min.
    Romanian with English subtitles.

The first of a series of Porumboiu’s short films populated by characters demoralized and thwarted by a toxic—if comic and bittersweet—atmosphere; in this case a ubiquitous alcoholism. Choosing life on an oil rig over life in his village, the young student finds that even if he has never had a drink, he is still under the influence.

  • A Trip to the City (Calatorie la oras)

    Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
    With With Constantin Dita, Ion Sapadaru.
    Romania, 2003, 35mm, color, 19 min.
    Romanian with English subtitles.

Constantin Dita’s quiet consternation once again inhabits Porumbiou’s second short and is once more joined by the more carefree antics of Ion Sapadaru. It is not just old world meeting new as the young teacher’s vain attempts to merely purchase a computer lead to unnecessary delays, political favors, bureaucratic conundrums, criminal activity and unexpected camaraderie. As as in his feature films to come, Porumboiu fills the screen with so much life and so many stories—while his characters still wait for something to happen.

  • Liviu’s Dream (Visul lui Liviu)

    Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
    With With Dragos Bucur, Luiza Cocora, Constatin Dita.
    Romania, 2003, 35mm, color, 39 min.
    Romanian with English subtitles.

The darkest and most complex of Porumboiu’s short films, Liviu’s Dream unfolds into more of a stifled nightmare which Liviu has come to bitterly tolerate. Born into a corrupt, disenchanted world, he makes a living by stealing and finds love by cheating on his best friend. Wanting to do things differently from his parents, Liviu blindly navigates through densely populated underworlds of waking and sleeping to finally reach that new world, the unknown.

Part of film series

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Corneliu Porumboiu. Adjective

Current and upcoming film series

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The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

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Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy