Occident

In the both clever and complex screenplay of Occident, the three protagonists influence each other’s lives without themselves knowing it. The first-time director links events together in a way that makes them acquire unexpected meanings. In a cemetery, the different stories come together. In addition to being a glib black comedy, Occident is also a story about migration – and especially about those who stay behind.Almost everyone seems to want to leave Romania, where life does not have much to offer. Luci and his fiancée Sorina have just been made homeless. Sorina’s father would have found something, but he has been dead for years. Sorina and Luci go to his grave, waiting for a sign from heaven. However the sign they receive is far from mystical: a bottle falls from the sky, straight on Luci’s head. Fortunately they get a lift to hospital from a nice Frenchman. For Sorina, this Jérôme is her one chance to improve her situation and she moves in with him straightaway. In an attempt to win back Sorina, Luci takes a job as a living beer bottle. In this way he meets Mihaela, who was jilted at the altar and now works as a walking telephone commercial.Occident was scheduled to have been screened last year, but it wasn’t completed in time. The film had a successful première at the Quinzaine des réalisateurs in Cannes.