Radu Jude’s new film Dracula hits Romanian cinemas on Halloween

Award-winning director Radu Jude’s latest film, Dracula, will premiere in Romanian cinemas on October 31, distributed by Independența Film. Following its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and screenings at major international festivals including New York, Chicago, Vienna, Sitges, and Warsaw, the film arrives in Romania just in time for Halloween.

Early screenings will begin on October 29 in Cinema City theaters.

Dracula offers a radical reinterpretation of the Transylvanian myth through the lens of an iPhone and the filter of artificial intelligence.

The film follows a creatively blocked director who turns to a (fake) AI for help in making his next project a success. What unfolds is a series of absurd and surprising vignettes exploring the Dracula legend in all its forms - from eerie scenes in Sighișoara’s medieval streets to surreal moments in rural Romania.

“Dracula is a collection of stories about vampires, failed loves, blood, the grotesque, and AI-generated images - a reflection on cinema, myth, and kitsch,” reads the press release.

The film mixes humor, irony, and self-reflection. “The audience will get 14-15 stories - some with vampires, some without, some funny, some serious - and everything a mainstream audience might want: nudity and sex, bad jokes, fights, blood, and absurdity,” Radu Jude said.

Shot entirely on an iPhone over 27 days in more than 40 locations, including the Sighișoara Citadel, Bethlen Castle in Biertan, and Bucharest’s Grivița Roșie district, the film features a cast of over 50 actors.

Screenings will take place in Bucharest, Cluj, Timișoara, Constanța, Ploiești, Galați, Iași, and Brașov, with the full schedule available here.

(Photo source: press release)