Discover the best of Romanian cinema, film, and television
Discover the definitive list of popular and critically-acclaimed movies and TV shows from Romania. Find your next binge-watch, streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
The cinema of Romania
Romanian cinema exploded onto the world stage with one of the most acclaimed film movements of the 21st century: the Romanian New Wave. It’s a cinema of long, unflinching takes, deadpan humour, and devastating realism. Born from a frustration with the past, a new generation of filmmakers in the 2000s turned their cameras on the absurdities of post-communist life, using black comedy as a weapon to dissect bureaucracy and national memory. The world first took notice with Cristi Puiu’s masterpiece The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu. The movement truly triumphed when Cristian Mungiu’s tense, brilliant thriller 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, a moment of immense national pride. This incredible legacy of artistry continues to thrive, with directors like Radu Jude winning top prizes for his daring and provocative films. This same gritty, intelligent style has now powered a new age of prestige television, with series like the HBO-produced crime drama Umbre (Shadows) finding fans across the globe. What makes Romanian cinema so unforgettable is this very intelligence. It trusts its audience, never offering easy answers. It's a cinema that can make you laugh at the darkest of situations, proving itself to be one of the bravest and most original voices in modern film.
Best Romanian series
Umbre 2014
Relu is a family man. He has two children, a wife and a double life. Seen through the eyes of his family, Relu Oncescu appears to be an ordinary taxi driver. No one suspects that Relu works as a collector for Capitanu', a local mobster. Neither of the two worlds (his family and the mafia) knows of the other's existence. Relu manages to keep everything under control, but not for long. After accidentally killing a man, he tries to get out of the underworld, but he can't find his way back. Day by day, the secrets he keeps become increasingly oppressive and the lies begin to surface, one by one.
79Spy/Master 2023
During the height of the Cold War, Victor Godeanu, the right-hand man and closest advisor to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, and secret agent for the KGB, must escape Romania and Ceaușescu before his cover is blown. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and an up-and-coming CIA agent, Godeanu must elude the KGB and his own country’s spooks, fully aware that his defection is putting his family back home in mortal danger.
69Subteran 2025
A young mother's life is upended when she finds herself hiding behind a secret identity to escape the Bucharest gang responsible for her fiancé's death.
65Hackerville 2018
Following a cyber attack on a German bank, an investigator teams with local authorities and an elite hacker to track the suspects.
62Las Fierbinti 2012
The action takes place in the village of Fierbinți, where the existence of the inhabitants takes place slowly, in a rural paradise that has adapted, in a purely Romanian style, to modern times. Deputy Mayor Vasile wants to take the place of the current mayor and relies on the support of the innkeeper Bobiță and his friend, Giani, the typical provincial swindler. Celentano, Firicel a lu 'Cimpoaie, Ardiles and Santa Peleus, the drunks of the village, are colorful and humorous appearances.
89Asia Express 2018
Asia Express is the Romanian version of the reality show Peking Express which was created in 2004.
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Best Romanian movies
High Tension 2003
Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
684 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 2007
Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.
75Charlie Countryman 2013
While traveling abroad, a guy falls for a Romanian beauty whose unreachable heart has its origins in her violent, charismatic ex.
65Oh, Ramona! 2019
Oh, Ramona! seeks the transformation of Andrew from a teenager into an adult who lives candidly and selflessly his first love story, innocent and uninvolved, alternating with the second, intense and insane story, incapable of making a choice.
53Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn 2021
Emi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.
60Graduation 2016
After his daughter is assaulted and left with an injury that may jeopardize her opportunity to study in the UK, a Romanian doctor decides to do whatever it takes to secure her future.
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