What was your main goal in shooting a film of this nature, depicting something as commonplace as the relationship between a father and his son?
The 'commonplace' things are not that un-interesting as they may appear at the first sight, they holds great potential for drama. Every man, every space, every situation, if we look careful at, could be something full of semnifications. So I think that a simple human relationship is something so complex that someone could spend his/her whole life trying to figure it out.
What do the characters discover during their journey?
I don't know if the characters discover something about themselves during their journey. This is, I think, a cliche very used in films. I don't think it happens that way. It's not that simple to discover something about yourself, especially when you don't have the time or the energy or the luxury to question your actions, and that's the situation of the characters from the film. They live and work and struggle, but don't have the time to think about their deeds. On the other hand , maybe we, as viewers, could discover something interesting in their journey. I hope so.
What does being the first winner of ALCINE's European Short Film Competition mean to you?
It feels very nice when you see that the work you've done is appreciated by other people. You suddenly feel that you didn't work in vain and, especially because of this, you feel encouraged to work more. Also, the awards can help you in getting the funding for the next projects. And, of course, they feed your ego a lot.
'Lampa cu caciula' was also awarded a prize at the Sundance film festival. Is it important to you to be able to screen your work abroad?
I made the film with the hope of sharing it with other people, so all the screenings are extremely important for this reason.
Do you have any projects in the pipeline? Where do you see your film career going?
Apart from directing advertising films, I am in the postproduction with two other short films. And recently I have found the money for my first feature film, which I will be shooting in the summer.
Could you give us a quick overview of the state of short filmmaking in Rumania?
There are some very good film directors here, most of them are directing short films, or they made short films in the past. The biggest problem is the distribution. There are only a few film festivals here and the televisions are not interested in broadcasting short films. Although very soon they are going to screen my film, so maybe something will change...
