Cristian Mungiu was born on 27 April 1968 in Iași, Romania. He began studying English and American literature in his home town before joining the Bucharest School of Theatre and Cinema, where he developed his cinematic style, based on the precise observation of behaviour and the realistic portrayal of Romanian society.
His first feature film, Occident, was screened at Cannes as part of the Directors’ Fortnight. In 2007, he directed 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, which won him the Palme d’Or – the first ever for Romanian cinema. This was followed by Tales from the Golden Age, Beyond the Hills, Graduation, Honeymoon and R.M.N., which cemented his reputation as a committed filmmaker with a keen eye for social realities.
In addition to directing, he has written the screenplays for all his films and is involved in their production, thereby asserting complete artistic control over his works. Just over twenty years after winning his first Palme d’Or, he claimed Cannes’ highest honour for a second time in 2026 with Fjord, the story of a Romanian, fundamentalist Christian family who settle in a village in Norway.
Une vie roumaine – Tania Ionascu, ma grand-mère de Bessarabie est le premier roman de Cristian Mungiu, et le seul à ce jour. Il y fait entendre la voix de sa grand-mère, Tania, une femme qui l’a élevé et qui vivra les grands conflits du XXème siècle. Cristian Mungiu retrace pudiquement les tragédies humaines du siècle passé en livrant le portrait d’une famille simple, déchirée par les pertes et les exils, et dont l’histoire se confond avec celle d’une terre disputée, la Bessarabie, région aujourd’hui partagée entre la Moldavie et l’Ukraine. La profession de foi d’un cinéaste de renom qui affirme ses origines à travers un récit intime et puissant.