EXCLUSIVE: Doc sales specialist Cinephil has boarded Alexandru Solomon’s Small Expectations ahead of its world premiere in the Frontlight sidebar of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam next week.
The first-person investigation chronicles the chaotic lead-up to Romania’s 2025 presidential election in which moderate independent Nicușor Dan faced off against far-right forces, including Trump-aligned street fighter George Simion and ultranationalist Călin Georgescu.
Solomon delves into the machinery of power, disinformation, and the rapid radicalization of a society under pressure, as Russian interference allegations, institutional breakdowns, and the unleashing of fascist energy left Romania’s democracy exposed.
Production is led by award-winning Romanian company microfilm, headed by Ada Solomon, current Chair of the European Film Academy Board, in co-production with Belgium’s While We’re Here (Frederik Nicolai and Annabel Verbeke).
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“Following the particular case of the Romanian elections, the film is talking about very serious matters but using an approach that we wanted vivid, unconventional and entertaining at the same time,” said Alexandru Solomon and Ada Solomon in a joint statement.
“We are super excited to team up with Cinephil and we are confident that we have the right partners for the international journey of the film.”
Alexandru Solomon is one of Romania’s top documentarians. After starting out as a cinematographer for fiction films in the 990s and collaborating with other artists on experimental works, he shifted his focus to documentaries.
His feature documentaries include The Great Communist Robbery (2004), Cold Waves – War on Radio (2007), Kapitalism, Our Secret Recipe (2010), Tarzan’s Testicle (2017). His work has played at film festivals including IDFA, Karlovy Vary, IFFR Rotterdam, been nominated for European Film Awards and won several national awards at home.
His most recent film, Arsenie, An Amazing Life (2023) premiered in Karlovy Vary IFF and was screened in IDFA, Valladolid and ZagrebDox, among others.
Alongside making documentaries, Soloman also teaches at University of Arts – UNArte, Bucharest, and is the president of One World Romania Association in charge of the homonym film festival, the only human rights dedicated film festival in Romania.
“Few directors have mapped the fault lines of contemporary Romania with the consistency, courage, and cinematic intelligence of Alexandru Solomon. We’re honored to be collaborating with him and his team to bring Small Expectations to audiences,” said Shoshi Korman and Suzanne Nodale, co-Managing Directors of Cinephil.
“As so many countries are facing the same challenges and upcoming elections around the world, the film acts as a cautionary tale of the fragility of our democracies in an ever more connected world.”
Further partners include the Centrul Național al Cinematografiei (CNC), Flemish public broadcaster VRT, Romanian public broadcaster TVR, and Avanpost Media.