Radu Jude

Early career

In 2003, Jude studied at the Film Directing Department at the Media University of Bucharest. He worked as an assistant director for feature films including Amen., directed by Costa-Gavras and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Cristi Puiu. He directed several short films, among them Corp la corp (2003), Marea Neagră (2004), Lampa cu căciulă (2006) – the most awarded Romanian short film of all time, winner of grand prizes at Sundance, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Grimstad, Hamburg, Bilbao, Huesca, Trieste, Montpellier, Cottbus, Aspen, IndieLisboa, Brussels, Mediawave, Kraków, Almería, Valencia, Uppsala and selected, among others, at Toronto, Telluride, New Directors/New Films Festival, Tampere, Rotterdam. His short films Dimineața (2007) and Alexandra (2007) were selected in over 30 festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand, San Francisco, Cottbus, and Oberhausen (where he won the Grand Prix). Jude also directed over 100 commercials.^[1]

The Happiest Girl in the World is his feature debut.^[2] Before the theatrical release in Romania, Cea mai fericită fată din lume won the CICAE Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Award (International Federation of Film Critics) at the Sofia International Film Festival, the Prize for Best Screenplay at the Bucharest International Film Festival and FIPRESCI Prize at IndieLisboa. The film was selected in ACID Programme at 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

2010s

In 2011, he directed and produced the independent Film pentru prieteni. His feature film Everybody in Our Family (2012) premiered at the Berlinale Forum and received the Heart of Sarajevo Award and the Bayard d'Or in Namur, among other awards.^[3]

Jude's Aferim!^[4] won the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival.^[5] The movie was also nominated at the Tribeca Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, AFI Fest, London Film Festival, and Berlin International Film Festival. The film was selected as the Romanian official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards reaching the short list but was not nominated.^[6]

In 2016, Jude released Scarred Hearts, which received two awards at the Locarno International Film Festival and brought him the best director award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival.^[7] In 2018, his film I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.^[8] It won the Crystal Globe for the best feature film at the 2018 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

2020s

Jude returned to the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020 with his new film Uppercase Print, the story of Mugur Călinescu, a Romanian teenager who wrote protest graffiti messages against the communist regime of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and was subsequently arrested and interrogated by the secret police.^[9][10] The film screened in the Forum section of the Berlinale as a world premiere. The film festival also featured his documentary film Ieșirea trenurilor din gară, co-directed with Adrian Cioflâncă.^[11]

Jude won the Golden Bear at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.^[12] It was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, though it was not nominated.^[7]

An English-language monograph on Jude's work was published in 2023: Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude, by Andrei Gorzo and Veronica Lazăr.

The same year, Jude released his most critically acclaimed film to date, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival and was later screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2023 New York Film Festival and selected as Romanian entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards on 8 September 2023.^[13] This dark comedy was ranked seventh on Cahiers du Cinéma's top 10 films of 2023 list and in June 2025 IndieWire ranked the film at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)."^[14][15]

Political beliefs

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Jude signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.^[16][17][18]

Feature films

Documentary

Short films

• Lampa cu căciulă (2006)
• Alexandra (2006)
• Dimineața (2007)
• O umbră de nor (2013)
• Trece și prin perete (2014)
• Plastic Semiotic (2021)
• The Potemkinists (2022)
• Greetings from Crîngasi (2023)^[23]
• Shot Reverse Shot (2026)^[24]

Television

• În familie (TV series, 2002)

Only Writer

• Stanka se pribira vkashti (2010)
• My Tired Father (co-writer, 2011)
• Film pentru prieteni (writer, 2011)

Assistant director

• Amen. (2002)
• Furia (2002)
• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)