Marta Balaga In Venice Film Festival premiere “The New Year That Never Came,” set during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime in Romania and debuting its exclusive trailer with Variety, no one can be trusted.
Not even Santa Claus. “After all, he could be collaborating with Securitate [the secret police]! Maybe that’s the moral of this film: Always check Santa’s CV,” laughs director Bogdan Mureşanu.
He follows multiple protagonists on the verge of a nervous breakdown, making life-changing decisions in December 1989. An aspiring actress asked to perform in a propaganda-heavy TV special, two boys who are ready to flee, a woman whose entire life is literally about to collapse and a little boy who just sent a letter to Santa.
The problem is, he happened to mention his dad would like to see “Uncle Nic” dead. “I wanted this film to feel like a symphony and to give a proper overview of the society at that time.
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