Cristi Puiu

Born in 1967, his first interest was painting and in 1992 he was admitted as a student at the Painting Department of Ecole Superieure d’Arts Visuels in Geneva . After the first year he switched to film studies and graduated in 1996. After returning to Romania, Cristi Puiu started directing and writing scripts for his first films, generally enjoying critical success: “25.12. Bucharest. Northern Train Station” (1996, a document), “Cigarettes and Coffee” (2004) and his first feature film: “Stuff and Dough” (2001). The second Cristi Puiu’s feature film, “The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu” (2005), lay foundations to a totally different reception of Romanian cinema in the world.