BOX - Special screening

Romania/Hungary 2015, 94 mins, feature film, Romanian and Hungarian with English subtitles

Q&A with producer Florentina Onea

Cast: Claudia Ardelean, Orlando Chirvase, Derszi Deszo, Hilda Peter, Narcis Romulus Dobrin

Synopsis: Rafael (19) is a young boxer at the start of his career. Cristina (34) is an actress. BOX is a movie about a simple game: a game with no rules, a game in which nobody is safe.

Under the pretext of a love story, BOX unfolds a coming-of-age narrative. Rafael and Cristina were never supposed to meet. He is 19, Gypsy, works in a car-wash and wants to make it big as a boxer. He lives with his grandfather and he is about to have a breakthrough as an athlete. She is 34, Hungarian, an actress in the local theatre, married, and goes through a professional and personal crisis. Her husband is the star of the theatre ensemble and it seems that she has been living in his shadow for a while.

Without knowing each other, Rafael follows Cristina every day, through the cobblestoned streets of an old provincial town. She knows it and enjoys the attention. One time, she turns back and they face each other. The following day, he looks at her in the eyes and asks: “If you hadn‘t been married, would you have married me?” From that moment on, there is no way back for either of them.

Two different destinies, two different worlds facing different dilemmas. Despite their ages, Rafael and Cristina share the same desperate need to prove themselves. As their story unfolds, they each learn to deal with adulthood and compromise in their own way, with blood and tears on one side, deep silences and discreet smiles on the other.