“Beyond the Hills” is written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, who got inspiration from novels by Tatiana Niculescu-Bran. Oleg Mutu is the director of photography and two actresses, who have just made their film debut, Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur, play the main parts. Valeriu Andriuta plays the priest and Dana Tapalaga plays mother superior in a film that tells the tale of two girls who grew up together and get reunited after a few years’ separation.

Alina (played by Cristina Flutur) comes back from Germany to take along her childhood friend Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), whom she is still very attached to. But Voichita has already embraced faith, and the nuns at the monastery make up for the family she’s always been looking for. Alina goes to great lengths to win Voichita back, making everyone wonder where that inner force comes from. The rehearsals and shootings for “Beyond the Hills” were taken in Campina and Bucharest this winter.

Cristina Flutur, one of the film’s protagonists, is an actress at the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu. “Life with an idiot” and “Turandot” (directed by Andry Zholdak) “The Seagull” (by Andrei Serban) and “Pantagruel’s Sister-in-Law” (by Silviu Purcarete) are some of the shows that have marked her career. One of Cristina’s dreams was to play in a movie and as she wanted to start off on the right foot in cinematography, her cooperation with film director Cristian Mungiu came at the right time. Cristina described the part she had to play in the movie as a complex one, although others may think otherwise. It was love at the first sight between the actress and the character she had to impersonate. Cristina Flutur:

“It’s very difficult to describe this character in just one sentence. She experiences a lot of trauma in such a short time. It’s difficult for me to make a cold blood analysis of the characters I have to play. I am not that type of actress, I need to connect to the character, try to somehow understand what she feels and sympathize with her. So most of the time I kept in close touch with my character and some of the scenes I played had a huge emotional load and I needed a lot of balance to play those scenes.”

Her participation in the project gave Cristina Flutur an opportunity to meet a character that enriched her both as a human being and as an actress. The film itself helped her rediscover director Cristian Mungiu, the Romanian filmmaker who won the famous Palme d’Or. Actress Cristina Flutur:

“Before this film, he was my favorite director because I loved his films and the way he approached various issues. Now, after having worked with him, I can tell you it was an extraordinary experience. He has a simple and beautiful style of working with actors. He is respectful of our profession and gives us freedom to express ourselves, which I enjoyed a lot. I can now say the communication between us was perfect. We used to speak a lot, to come up with new ideas and proposals, to create several versions of a character. And he had confidence in us, the actors, and our suggestions.”

When Cosmina Stratan received a phone call from casting director Catalin Dordea, she only knew that she would take part in screen tests for a Romanian film. And she passed four such tests before she convinced Cristian Mungiu that she was the best choice for Voichita. Before taking up an acting career, Cosmina Stratan worked as a journalist, both in the print press and the electronic media. However, as she said, “something was missing in my life, and I didn’t find my peace until I finally understood what it was”.

Now she is studying for her MA in acting at the “I.L. Caragiale” National University of Theatrical and Cinematographic Arts and believes in her chance to be cast in other films, too. “Cristian Mungiu has convinced me that the world is a small place, where it is easy to find a way”, says Cosmina Stratan, who has added:

“My relation with the character, Voichita, was not exactly love at first sight. I was much more attracted to Alina’s role, which seemed more interesting and challenging to me. However, after having talked to Cristian Mungiu, I realized that Voichita’s role suited me better, and we had a lot in common. It is a character with a better-concealed personality, more difficult to decipher, and therefore the challenge was bigger. I tried to identify characters like Voichita around me, I tried to discover her in the people around me, but I failed. I ended up looking for her within myself and I realized we had much in common. And Cristian helped me a lot, in my effort to understand his decisions and agree with them.”

As regards the Cannes Film Festival, Cosmina Stratan has told us she tries to tone down her expectations.

“I try to think as little as possible about it, because the Cannes festival was not on my mind when I was filming, although I knew I was working with a director whose talent had been widely acknowledged. I was really captivated by the plot, to such an extent that I didn’t have any other expectations. Now, that I know about Cannes, I can say I am surprised and honored.”

The Jury of the Cannes Festival, chaired by Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti, is made up of Hiam Abbas, Andrea Arnold, Emmanuelle Devos, Diane Kruger, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne and Raoul Peck. Running in the competitoon for a Palme d'Or this year, alongside Cristian Mungiu, are such filmmakers as David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, Wes Anderson, Ken Loach and Alain Resnais.