BIO
Monica Stan is a Romanian filmmaker with a background in psychology. She has been working as a screenwriter for 10 years and her filmography includes the features “Marussia” (Berlinale Generation 2013) and “Coureur” (IFF Rotterdam 2019) as well as several shorts. She also attended various film and screenwriting workshops such as the Torino Film Lab, 2011, the Binger Film Lab, 2012 and the Venice Biennale College, 2014. She is currently working on her debut as a director.
PROJECT: The Way of the Dragon
Winter. A hump-backed 80 year-old woman and a tall 50 year-old man are strolling around a desolate park. The mother carefully watches Iulian who tries to hide something from her. She forces him to show her what he is hiding. Iulian shyly shows her: it’s his new Bruce Lee DVD. The mother is displeased – why did he take it from home? What is the point of bringing the DVD to the park? Iulian laughs like a mischievous child – he likes the cover picture. The mother forgives his mischief. They walk on around the frozen park. A relationship frozen in time of mother and child.
It’s pitch dark. The mother didn’t realise when the sun set. They exit the park in a daze and start walking down empty uninhabited boulevards with cars whizzing by at high speed. Tired and cold Iulian pressures her: how much longer until they get home? The mother walks on silently with growing panic in her eyes.
As the night progresses, the two silhouettes go deeper and deeper into the decaying outskirts of the city.
