The film is set in a small town in Romania. Ecaterina, a beautiful 38-year-old religion teacher and wife of the local priest, has a new pupil in her classroom. He’s 16, he’s a problem child and he looks at her in a special way. Ecaterina tries to keep him under control, but she loses her own control in the process. After she sleeps with her student, he starts blackmailing her by confessing to her husband, the priest.

Octav Chelaru penned the script and the main characters are played by Mălina Manovici, Sergiu Smerea, Alexandru Papadopol and Voicu Dumitraș. The cast includes Richard Bovnoczki, Ana Maria Moldovan, Marian Râlea and Gabriel Spahiu.

Barbu Bălășoiu, who lensed Cristi Puiu's Sieranevada (Mandragora, 2016), is the DoP.

Romania's deFilm is producing in coproduction with Germany's 42film and Serbia's EED Productions. The producers are Radu Stancu, Livia Rădulescu, Eike Goreczka, Christoph Kukula, Maja Popovic and Vladimir Vasiljevic.

The budget is 890,000 EUR, Radu Stancu told FNE. The project is supported by the Romanian Film Centre, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Film Center Serbia and the MEDIA Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

The film was shot in 26 days starting on 8 August 2020.

Born in 1991, Octav Chelaru has made several short films, including Black Clothes / Haine negre (2107), which was funded by the Romanian Film Centre and selected for Locarno's Filmmakers of Tomorrow competition.

Production Information:

Producer:
deFilm (Romania)
Radu Stancu: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Coproducers:
42film (Germany)
EED Productions (Serbia)

Credits:
Director: Octav Chelaru
Scriptwriter: Octav Chelaru
DoP: Barbu Bălășoiu
Cast: Mălina Manovici, Sergiu Smerea, Alexandru Papadopol and Voicu Dumitraș. The cast includes  Richard Bovnoczki, Ana Maria Moldovan, Marian Râlea, Gabriel Spahiu