Lazăr Vrabie

Eruption

The eruption of an oil well is much needed for the survival of the workers and their families living nearby.

The Power and The Truth

This is a communist propaganda movie that follows the life of an engineer who is in conflict with power hungry apparatchiks.

Three Secret Letters

A director of a shipyard abusively fires a foreman who has opposing ideas.

The Waves of the Danube

Ciulei’s second feature recalls the best of Fritz Lang and Michael Curtiz in its WWII-era espionage tale, set on a barge transporting Nazi munitions up the Danube. Ciulei himself givers a superb performance as Mihai, the barge captain forced to navigate the heavily mined waters along with his new bride, Ana (Irina Petrescu). As the journey wears on, Mihai becomes increasingly suspicious of one of his crew, ex-convict Toma (Lazar Vrabie), and his intentions towards Ana. But Toma has a far graver—and potentially deadly—secret to conceal.

The Thirst

The communists are taking over the boyar land and do the agrarian reform.

Life Doesn't Spare

Dying in the trenches during World War II, Stefan looks back at his own life and that of his father. Through his memories, the film presents a story that embraces two generations and various eras. It is a film about the tragedy of lives dragged into conflicts against their will, of lives violently ruined or ended – a story about the devastating consequences of war. Interweaving past and present, the flashback narrative depicts the war as a perpetual situation where the “little people” always turn out to be on the losing side.

Babusca's Adventures

In 1975 two Romanian kids go about their daily routine in their native fishing village on the Danube Delta when a mysterious stranger asks them for a ride in their fishing boat to an island located deep inside the river delta.

Mingea

With his nose pressed against the glass, four-year-old Ionel watches the kids playing ball in the street with great interest. His father, a schoolteacher, has lost his job. Now he goes to various institutions in vain, because in bourgeois Romania it is not easy to find a job. Ionel waits for his father every night and while waiting for him he dreams of getting a real yellow ball for his birthday. His father realizes that it is necessary to get the money and buy the ball. After all, the boy is crippled, and the ball is the only hope for him to get well...