Stuff and Dough

Colour, 35mm
Romania, 2001, 90 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

A young man named Ovidiu lives with his parents and aged grandmother in Constanta, selling snacks and drinks from a window in their ground floor flat. Although he’d like to buy a stand and be on his own, he doesn’t have enough money. A local ‘boss’ offers him a simple and well-paid job: all he has to do is drive to Bucharest and deliver a bag to a certain address. The packages he’s carrying allegedly contain medicine. Ovidiu immediately sets out, taking along a couple of friends. Soon enough it’s clear that the carefree trip to the capital won’t come off without a hitch: they are followed by a red truck driven by men who assuredly don’t have their best interests at heart. But only during the return trip home does the young man realise that he’s become mixed up in something way over his head – and that it’s too late to back out.

About the director

Cristi Puiu (b. 1969, Bucharest) originally wanted to be a painter and sculptor – he studied painting and jewellery-making in Geneva, only later studying direction. He has participated in several successful exhibitions of young artists, while at the same time making documentaries and broadcasts for television (Interieurs, Strada Fetesti 4, There Is No Place Like Home, Avant le petit dejeuner – screened at the Locarno IFF, 25. 12. Bucharest la Gare de Nord, Romani C.R.I.S.S., and others). Stuff and Dough is his feature film debut.