8:20 p.m.	12:08 East of Bucharest Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania, 2006)

(A fost sau n'a fost?). Last year's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu returned Romania to the world cinema map, but it's the sharp-witted, Cannes prizewinning 12:08 East of Bucharest that signals a veritable "next big thing" movement there. "What's all the fuss about the revolution? No one cares anymore," says a young trophy mistress during the sixteenth anniversary of the Romanian revolution. Preparing for another year of getting older, drunker, and lonelier, the bickering threesome of a retiree, a teacher, and a television host pose a related question on the host's show: did a true revolution take place in their town, or did everyone conveniently rebel after the regime collapsed? Several argumentative call-ins, insults, drinks, technical breakdowns, Romany musical interludes, and lies later, they may have an answer, or a new question: "What difference did it make?" Dynamic, hilarious, and cut with narrative precision, East of Bucharest is a classic Eastern European allegory of how nations remember (and rewrite) their darkest moments, and how (and why) each person needs their own story.

—Jason Sanders

• Written by Porumboiu. Photographed by George Dascalescu, Marius Panduru. With Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru. (89 mins, In Romanian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Tartan Films)