MEDA OR THE NOT SO BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS / MEDA SAU PARTEA NU PREA FERICITĂ A LUCRURILOR

The film is set in a village on the edge of a forest in rural Romania, where middle-aged Doru (Şerban Pavlu, from Aferim!) learns that his wife has died. At home his adopted teenage daughter Meda is waiting for him (Ana Radu) and the day after he returns he is visited by the local police who tell him that the tax authorities have sent a notice regarding a payment that has been outstanding for three years, plus interest. As Meda's legal guardian was Doru's wife, Doru cannot take custody of his daughter until he proves that he can provide her with both food and shelter, leading him to desperately look for ways to make money.

"The society in which Doru lives in is in conflict with the mentality inherited from the Balkan temperament, its communist past, and the standards enforced by the government, in turn coming from the EU.
Pârvu directs his debut film with complete control".

Vladan Petkovic, Cineuropa.org