Romanian film director Mihai Dragolea at Taifas - Balkan film and culture festival

Romanian film director and documentarist Mihai Dragolea briefly introduces his yet-to-be-released film about the Romanian forest mafia. The film’s field recordings have uncovered criminal acts and systemic corruption, putting the production and crew in great danger.

Mihai Dragolea has been at the forefront of advocating for social justice for animals and nature in Romania and is a passionate supporter of a fair understanding of human rights. His newest short film, ‘‘Brisca,’’ (România – 2024 – 15 min — Transylvania, Țara Făgetului, 1957. Maria Beluș fought and killed a wolf that attacked only her kin. Many villagers believe that the animal was actually a werewolf who came to curse her family. A great price was paid to lift the curse, and after the attack, Maria gave birth to a child) and had its world premiere at Timisoara’s Taifas Balkan Film and Culture Festival this year.

Film-maker and human/animal rights activist, Mihai Dragolea

Mihai Dragolea is a director, writer, and producer based in Bucharest and Cluj. Currently, he works as an assistant professor at Babes Bolyai University, teaching Film Studies. He has produced three documentaries with Vagabond Film. ”PhoeniXXX” (2017) went to Jihlava IDFF 2017, Beldocs 2018, TIFF 2018, Astra Sibiu IFF 2017 and was nominated for best documentary at the Romanian Gopo Awards in 2018. His latest finished project is titled ”Everything for Riana” (2020), a short documentary film that received the Odense IFF award for Documentary, was screened at Transylvania IFF 2020 and was nominated at the Gopo Awards 2021, Best Short Documentary. His new project, ”Aurică, a dog’s life” was part of this year’s Sarajevo Talent Campus, Writer’s Summit and is currently in post-production.