Independent Romanian sci-fi horror film “We Put the World to Sleep” tours US

Romanian apocalyptic sci-fi horror feature “We Put the World to Sleep” had its world premiere on October 18 at the Nightmares Film Festival, one of the most important horror and fantastic film festivals in the US. The film, a product of 9 years of work, won Best Midnight Feature and Best Supporting Performance. Next, it will be screened at other festivals in the United States.

Directed by Adrian Țofei, the movie was written and produced by Adrian and Duru Yücel together. They play fictional characters also named Adrian and Duru, who, within the story of the movie, are themselves making an apocalyptic film, and things take a dark turn when they set out on a mission to end the world for real using the film’s budget.

The film has been selected for four major North American fantastic and horror festivals this year. To reach all of them, producers Adrian Țofei and Duru Yücel are touring the US this Halloween (October 16 - November 9).

The tour commenced with the World Premiere on October 18 at the 10th anniversary Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio, dubbed the “Cannes of horror” by iHorror, where the movie has won two awards: Best Midnight Feature and Best Supporting Performance for Duru Yücel.

The US segment of the tour continued with the regional premiere at Nightmare in the Ozarks Film Festival in Eureka Springs, Arkansas on October 25, and is set to conclude with the regional premiere on October 28 at FilmQuest in Provo, Utah, where the movie has received four nominations: Best Found Footage Feature, Best Lead Actress (Duru Yücel), Best Editing, and overall Best Feature Film.

From the US, Adrian and Duru will fly to Mexico for the Latin-American premiere at Feratum International Fantastic Film Festival (November 6-9), and then back to Romania.

“Our ambitious goal for We Put the World to Sleep was to combine the metaphysics of 2001: A Space Odyssey with the realism of The Blair Witch Project. What followed was a wild odyssey not only on screen but in real life as well over the nine years of production, with numerous unforeseen obstacles, from the pandemic to financial and creative ones, during which we partially lived in characters, on and off,” the two said.

The film was shot in multiple locations across Romania, Türkiye, and Ukraine with a diverse international cast, including Erisse Peterson, Andreea Enciu, and Danha Yunes in supporting roles.

Adrian and Duru are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to attend the festivals.

(Photo source: Adrian Tofei)