Film inspired by Rotterdam art heist carried out by Romanians to open in local cinemas next month

Traffic (Jaful Secolului), a Romania-Belgium-Netherlands co-production directed by Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai from a screenplay by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, is scheduled for release in local cinemas on September 23.

The film is inspired by the real case of a burglary carried out by a group of Romanians at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, in October 2012. The fictionalized story takes place in the Netherlands, where Ginel (Ionuț Niculae) and Natalia (Anamaria Vartolomei) have come to work. Here, they meet up with their fellow villagers, Iță (Rareș Andrici) and Adrian (Robert Iovan), who live off what their girlfriends earn and from small deals. When Natalia is assaulted in a club, Iță convinces Ginel that they have the right to take revenge. Fed up with being treated like second-class citizens, the three plot a coup and end up stealing paintings worth over EUR 20 million.

The film won the Audience Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Balkan Film Award (the prize for the best film in the Balkan competition) at the Sofia International Film Festival, the Grand Prix at the Warsaw International Film Festival (2024), the Grand Prize and the Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Tokyo International Film Festival (2024). The latter was awarded to actress Anamaria Vartolomei.

This is the second feature film by director Teodora Ana Mihai, following La Civil, which won the Prize of Courage in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

“In today’s Romania and given our ambiguous and deceptive relation with the West, in light of the conflict between sovereignty and progressivism, I believe Traffic makes a good starting point for a deeper and more honest discussion about the society we are part of,” Cristian Mungiu said.

“As a director born in communist Romania and raised largely in the West, I have experienced both worlds. I belong to both, or perhaps neither. This unique, if unsettling, position forces me to confront these uncomfortable themes. Since childhood, I have admired the strengths of both worlds, but I have been painfully aware of their weaknesses and sources of shame. Traffic invites you into its unique realm - tragic from a humorous point of view, absurd from a paradoxical point of view, and realistic from a disturbing point of view - provoking debate and, I hope, reflection,” said director Teodora Ana Mihai.

(Photo: PR)