Întregalde

Radu Muntean, one of the leading filmmakers in the Romanian New Wave (and director of previous LIFF favourites Tuesday After Christmas and One Floor Below) returns with the incisive and compelling road movie, Întregalde. Three friends are on their regular end-of-the-year humanitarian trip, driving along mountain dirt roads in their big SUVs. They lose their way and stop to offer a lift to an old man. But his directions prove unreliable and they end up getting stuck in a ditch all night, as their ideas of empathy and charity start to break down.

‘I try to put characters in uncomfortable positions, in different situations than they’re used to, in order to test them. Testing them is like testing me. I’m curious to find out about these kinds of experiences, and about how I would act in life-threatening circumstances. I think it’s important, when you’re talking about this notion of generosity, to think more about knowing the beneficiary – knowing the conditions they’re living in. These days, in society, in media and in social media, we’re talking a lot about charity and this altruistic aspect of normal life. But I think it’s important to go a little bit deeper, to question yourself about your motives, whether or not it’s part of your own personal project.’

Director Radu Muntean, from an interview in Variety.