Cristi Puiu: Movies & Box Office

Cristi Puiu (born Cristian Emilian Puiu on 3 April 1967 in Bucharest) is a seminal Romanian film director and screenwriter whose work has been credited with launching the Romanian New Wave. Stuff and Dough (2001), his low‑budget debut, earned international festival accolades and entered Cannes’ Quinzaines des Réalisateurs, signaling a fresh, realist aesthetic. Following this, his short Cigarettes and Coffee (2004) captured the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlin, further cementing his reputation for tight narrative control and social observation. The breakthrough feature The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) combined dark comedy with stark critique of the healthcare system, winning the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes and amassing forty‑seven awards worldwide, an achievement that solidified Puiu’s status among contemporary auteurs. In addition to directing, Puiu frequently co‑writes his scripts, collaborating with writer Răzvan Rădulescu on his first two features and independently on his acclaimed short. He co‑founded the production company Mandragora in 2004 with his wife Anca Puiu and Alex Munteanu, providing a platform for independent Romanian cinema. Puiu has articulated an ambitious project entitled Six Stories from the Outskirts of Bucharest, inspired by Éric Rohmer’s moral tales, intending to explore various dimensions of love across six films; the second installment Aurora appeared in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2010, and Sieranevada competed at Cannes in 2016. Beyond narrative cinema, he directed the documentary Bridges of Sarajevo (2014) and continues to influence emerging filmmakers through both his distinctive visual style and his commitment to exploring everyday moral dilemmas. Married to producer Anca Puiu, the couple raise three daughters—Smaranda, Ileana and Zoe—while remaining active in the international film community.