The script written by Epure together with Ana Gheorghe follows Maria, who discovers the body of a neighbour with no family in front of her apartment building, and decides to arrange her funeral. Though the woman was a stranger, her disappearance haunts Maria. She needs to know who Isabela Ivan was.
Maria is played by Cosmina Stratan, who also starred in Interfon 15 and received the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival ex-aequo with Cristina Flutur for Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills / Dincolo de dealuri (produced by Mobra Films, coproduced by Why Not Production, Wild Bunch, Les Films du Fleuve, France 3 Cinéma and Mandragora Movies Romania).
Romanian-American actress Elina Löwensohn, most notable for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, plays Isabela.
The cast includes Romanian actors Silviu Debu, Ozana Oancea, Isabela Neamțu, Mihaela Sîrbu, Elias Ferkin and George Albert Costea, Bulgarian actor Georgi Yordanov as well as talented trained dogs Ricky and Anishka.
Ana Gheorghe and Alexandru Teodorescu of Saga Film are producing in coproduction with Angel Ivanov and Virginia Venkova of Handplayed (Bulgaria), and Thomas Lambert of Tomsa Films (France). National coproducers include Ana Ciobanu of Arrogant Films and Theo Nissim of Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim.
The project was supported by the Romanian Film Centre with 520,000 RON in 2022 and also by the Bulgarian National Film Center. It also received the Alex. Leo Șerban Scholarship at the Transilvania IFF in 2022 and the SEE Cinema Network development grant in 2023.
The script was developed through Next Step - Semaine de la Critique and the Residence du Festival de Cannes.
The film was shot over 26 days in February and March 2024, primarily at the Romanian Black Sea. The locations included seaside resorts Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud, Mangalia, Olimp and Neptun, as well as Bucharest.
“Don’t Let Me Die explores our relationship with death, combining social commentary with comedy and horror. It delves into themes of collective passiveness and the fear of the unknown. What excites us most about this project is its core story and the blend of genres, a ‘philosophical horror’ as Dragoș Apetri, our editor, recently described the film. From the opening scenes, we are drawn into a Kafkaesque labyrinth with no escape, embodying the story of a death that doesn’t want to pass away in complete indifference”, Ana Gheorghe and Alexandru Teodorescu told FNE.
The film is slated for completion by the end of 2024, with the premiere scheduled for 2025. Currently, no sales agent or distributor is attached to the project.
Andrei Epure studied at the National University of Theater and Film “I.L.Caragiale”, where he also got a Master’s Degree in scriptwriting. He co-wrote Man-Dog / Om-câine by Ștefan Constantinescu (produced by microFILM, KLAS Film, Doppelganger and Pandora Film, in association with nomada.solo and Visual Walkabout,
coproduced by HiFilm Productions, Film i Väst, Shoot&Post, Auditory), and Mammalia by Sebastian Mihăilescu (produced by MicroFILM, Extreme Emotions, Pandora Film, coproduced by Bord Cadre films, Sovereign Films, HiFilm Productions, in association with Visual Walkabout, nomada.solo, Aeroplan Studios, XANF, Les Films d’Antoine, Wunderlust), among others.
Production Information:
Producer:
Saga Film (Romania)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Coproducers:
Handplayed (Bulgaria)www.handplayed.co
Tomsa Films (France)
Arrogant Films (Romania)
Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim (Romania)
Credits:
Director: Andrei Epure
Screenwriters: Andrei Epure, Ana Gheorghe
DoP: Laurențiu Răducanu
Production designer: Alexandra-Alma Ungureanu
Costume designer: Alexandra-Alma Ungureanu
Editor: Dragoș Apetri
Cast: Cosmina Stratan, Elina Löwensohn, Ricky and Anishka (stray dogs), Silviu Debu, Ozana Oancea, Isabela Neamțu, Mihaela Sîrbu, Elias Ferkin, George Albert Costea, Georgi Yordanov, Ioana Crăciunescu, Dan Ursu, Tiberiu Hărșan, Cezar Grumăzescu, Ana Dumitrașcu, Nicoleta Lefter, Ștefan Voicu, Marina Palii, Liviu Pintileasa, Alexandru Calangiu, Andrei Seușan
