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About the film
12:08 East of Bucharest
A film by Corneliu Porumboiu
”12:08 East of Bucharest” is Corneliu Porumboiu’s most recent film and also his first feature. The shooting took place in November 2005 in Vaslui - Romania, director’s home town.
The cast gathers important names in the Romanian theatre and film business, as it follows: Luminiţa Gheorghiu, Mirela Cioabă, Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban and Ion Sapdaru.
The production designer was Daniel Răduţă, an important artist who worked for numerous theatre and film productions. The image was signed by Marius Panduru, one of today’s most important Romanian directors of photography.
The action of the movie takes place in a small provincial town of our days, around Christmas. It’s December 21st. 16 years have passed since the Revolution, and the local TV station prepared a show with the theme “Was there or was there not a revolution in our town?
Corneliu Porumboiu
about 12:08 East of Bucharest
I got the idea five years ago, after I saw a talk show on a TV channel back in my home town. I never forgot it, it got stuck somewhere on my brain. Last year, in May, I finished writing the second version of a script I’ve been working on for the last two years, and yet I was not happy with the way it was coming out. I started writing “12:08 East of Bucharest” as a therapy. I wanted to detach myself from the other script. To my surprise, I finished it in a month. I liked it so much, that I decided to start shooting as quickly as possible.
It’s the narration of a day of the lives of three men. After 16 years since the ’89 Revolution, they are debating in a TV show whether there was a revolution in their town or not.
This project was singular, mainly because it was really simple as production work. I got some sponsors, and I put some money myself. My family helped also. The equipment and the film came with a really good price, and the actors and crew agreed on low fees. In the end, the budget was comparable with the one of an expensive video commercial. I didn’t look for a producer for this project. I decided to produce it myself.
Logline
It’s December the 21st. 16 years have passed since the Revolution, and the local TV station prepared a show with the theme “Was there or was there not a revolution in our town?”
Synopsis
It's December 22nd. 16 years have passed since the Revolution. We're in a small provincial town, and Christmas is coming. Pişcoci, an old retired man, is getting ready to spend another Christmas all by himself. Mănescu, a teacher of history, tries not to give away his entire salary on his debts. Jderescu, the owner of the local TV station, doesn't seem to be interested in the holydays. The time has come for him to face the history. Together with Pişcoci and Mănescu, he wants to find an answer to a 16 years old question: "Was there a revolution in their town or not?"