Romania, 1989. During the last days of Ceausescu’s dictatorship, in a small, isolated town, Maria, a ten-year-old girl, becomes the last witness to her sister’s mysterious disappearance. Torn apart by the loss, she is trying to make sense of a new, terrifying reality. Can she summon up the courage to grow up in a collapsing world?
Emma Ioana Mogos, Marina Palii, Igor Babiac and Istvan Teglas play the main characters.
“Milk Teeth serves as a powerful allegory of Romania’s transition from the Communist era to the hope of a new society after 1989. By representing darkness and void as visual symbolic elements, the film portrays the uncertainty and fear experienced during this period. Maria’s quest for the truth mirrors the nation’s desire for justice and accountability. She represents the generation that seeks empowerment, and change becomes vital in a time and place that finally show glimpses of prospects of a free world,” producer Radu Stancu told FNE.
Radu Stancu produced the film with Ioana Lascăr through Romania’s deFilm in coproduction with Cyriac Auriol through France’s Remora Films, Monica Hellström through Danish Strom Pictures, Konstantinos Vassilaros through Greece’s StudioBauhaus and Pavlina Angelova through Bulgaria’s Screening Emotions.
The film is backed by Centrul Național al Cinematografiei, Guvernului României - Oficiul de Film și Investiții Culturale, CNC Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, Institut Francais, Aide aux cinemas du monde, Danish Film Institute, Bulgarian National Film Center, Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center - Creative Greece / National Recovery & Resilience Plan - Greece 2.0 - Co-production Window, Media Investment Communication, ARTE Kino, Creative Europe Media, ERT SA, TorinoFilmLab Production Award & Green Filming Award, Cinema City, Televiziunea Română, Avanpost, Radio România.
Mincan’s s debut feature To the North / Spre nord had its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in 2022. To the North is a coproduction between Romania, France, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, produced by Radu Stancu through deFilm, and coproduced by Remora Films, StudioBauhaus, Screening Emotions, Background Films, with support from the Romanian Film Centre, the Bulgarian National Film Center and the Czech Film Center.
