Showcasing the world’s best new European films, Europa! Europa Film Festival returns to cinemas for its second edition in 2023, welcoming audiences across Melbourne and Sydney for 3 weeks of entertaining Australian Premiere screenings and special events.
Maria, Dan and Ilinca embark on their regular end-of-year humanitarian trip, driving an SUV along the mountain dirt roads of the Romanian village of Întregalde. On their travels, they help a lonely old man reach a sawmill where he supposedly works. When their car gets stuck in a ditch in the woods, they’re forced to spend the night with the old man, and their ideas about empathy and helpfulness begin to be challenged. This deeply thoughtful and clever film makes full use of classic horror tropes to constantly make the characters, and the audience, second-guess the decisions they make and why. The fact that the
film ultimately deviates from audience expectations – emerging as an unexpectedly humane and touching feature – is just part of what makes Întregalde such a significant film in the current crop of Romanian cinema.
