The Yellow Smiley Face

When the Soviet Army marched into Romania in 1944, a part of the Romanian population went “into the mountains” – a diverse assortment of nationalists and fascists, liberals, apolitical farmers and members of the middle-class, who were affected by the Communists’ expropriations. Over a thousand armed resistance groups took refuge in the inaccessible forests of the Carpathian Mountains where they waited in vain for the support of the Western Allies. One of them was led by Ion Gavrilă-Ogoranu, who managed to remain undetected until 1976 when he was arrested. This film depicts the daily existence of this group. It tells the story of a struggle that became an end in itself, as the enemy was constantly in pursuit and arrest meant torture and often liquidation. Hungry and emotionally withdrawn, the group of young men got entangled in a partisan war that could not be won, lost in the landscape of the South Carpathians, accompanied by a vigilant secret police, the Securitate.

Cristina and Tudor have founded a happy family with their two children, Maria and Ilie. They are in their thirties and live an ordinary life in a nice apartment in a Romanian town, but one Sunday morning when Tudor takes his kids to the park, Maria disappears. Their lives abruptly change forever.

Velicanu considers himself a fulfilled person. He's got money, a new villa, married a younger woman and has a son from a previous marriage. Before the holidays he has to leave everything in order, but things start to get complicated. The crisis at the end of the day make him wonder whatever he is indeed a happy, fulfilled person...

A man stands outside an apartment building, lighting a cigarette. He goes inside. As he rings the bell at the 4th floor, a woman answers and lets him in. The alarm rings. The man and woman wake up. He takes out the garbage. She makes breakfast. After breakfast, he packs his suitcase and leaves. He goes outside. He lights a cigarette. After that, he goes inside. He rings the bell at the 8th floor. A woman answers and lets him in. A week later. The alarm rings. The man and woman wake up. He takes out the garbage. She prepares him breakfast. He goes back inside and rings the bell at the 4th floor... Written by Bram Wijngaarden

Two railroad men are living in a lineman's cabin. One night a stranger has an accident on the beach nearby that will change everything.

Tales from the Golden Age is composed of 5 unconventional short stories, each one dealing with the late communist period in Romania, told through its urban myths from the perspective of ordinary people. The title of the film refers to the alluded "Golden Age" of the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime.