Romania’s submission for 2026 Oscars named best film at Rome festival
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, has received the award for best film at the Tertio…
Simona Fodor · Journalist
· Updated · 2 min read
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, has received the award for best film at the Tertio Millennio International Film Festival in Rome.
The jury of the festival noted in its motivation the film's "ability to combine formal rigor and human depth."
"The director constructs a story of simple and direct realism, making a paradoxical story believable and highlighting the gap between the basic needs of those seeking a new life and the values of the host society. The lead actress's performance is extraordinary, imbuing the film with profound and sensitive truth," it said.
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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. The three plot a coup and end up stealing paintings worth over EUR 20 million.
Traffic previouslywon 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.
It 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.
Founded at the initiative of Pope John Paul II in 1997, the Tertio Millennio festival explores themes related to spirituality and aims to serve as a forum for interreligious and intercultural dialogue.
(Photo: PR)
