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Cristian, a young idealistic prosecutor whose career is on the rise, tries to crack a case against a senior colleague accused of corruption. The dilemma of choosing between his career and the truth weighs heavily on his shoulders. Looking further to solve the case, he enters a danger zone paved with unexpected and painful revelations.
Awards
- Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics Award - Sofia IFF
Festivals
Labels & Line Ups
Credits
- Cast
- Emilian Oprea
- Mihai Constantin
- Andreea Vasile
- Dan Condurache
- Liviu Pintileasa
- Mihai Smarandache
- Alin Florea
- Lucretia Mandric
- Sore Mihalache
- Ionut Caras
- Screenplay
- Loredana Novak
- Tudor Giurgiu
- Cinematography
- Marius Panduru
- Editing
- Réka Lemhényi
- Music
- Viktor Chouchkov
Director's Statement
The film about Panait/ Panduru is, to a certain extent, the film about the failure of my generation – the failure to change Romania’s social and political environment. It’s about the idealistic people who were educated under communism and then experienced the 1989 Revolution, all full of high ideals. A generation that believed the political changes brought on by the 1989 revolution would trigger a final break away from the “old system”, which is mob-ridden and corrupt. But we were wrong. Now, just as in 2002, the year Panait died, the reality of Romanian society is harsh: former Securitate officers and active members of the actual SRI (the “new” Secret Service) have monopolized important businesses, as well as important political positions. In 2002, the fight between the secret services of the army, police, judiciary and the government (the latter of which inherited the old Securitate apparatus) reached its climax. Business was conducted behind closed doors under the serene patronage of the state’s ruling class, composed of representatives of the former communist power, now “rebranded” as social-democrats. Smuggling oil by-products was a huge source of income for the officers of the secret services, with the benevolent support of the politicians. What odds to succeed would that grant to people with strong moral backbones, like prosecutors Panduru or Leca?
- Production
- LIBRA FILM PRODUCTIONS
- Sales
- HERETIC OUTREACH
Press
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A heavy-handed portrait of power.
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Giurgiu brings flesh and blood to an “interesting” period in the country's history.
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A worthy tribute to a man who finds himself unable to play along and an important piecing together of the skeletons in the Romanian government's newly renovated closets.
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Why Me? is in no way the account of a scandal strictly limited to Romania but uncomfortably familiar to many other corners of the world.

Tudor Giurgiu
Romania
I believe a lot in individuals and not in generations
Tudor Giurgiu (Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 1972) is a Romanian film director. He was President of the Romanian National Television TVR between 2005 and 2007 but is known also as a director of music videos and numerous documentaries. Tudor Giurgiu owns Librafilm, an independent production company. He is also the initiator and president of the Transilvania IFF and of the Full Moon – Horror & Fantasy FF in Biertan as well as initiator of Romania's national film awards, the Gopo Awards. In 1995 he graduated from the Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest and worked as assistant director for Lucian Pintilie and Radu Mihaileanu. His short film POPCORN STORY screened in the Berlinale Panorama in 2002 and his feature debut LOVE SICK in the Panorama in 2006. It later turned into a box-office hit in Romania. It was followed by SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN or BATMAN and ANOTHER CHRISTMAS. WHY ME? is his latest film, which premiered at Berlinale Panorama.