Radu Jude: “In Romania we are not worried about AI, we are just a bunch of lost souls who make films”

BarcelonaA court clerk tormented by guilt after carrying out an eviction stars in Kontinental '25The magnificent new film by Romanian director Radu Jude (Bucharest, 1977) is now in theaters. The author of Don't expect too much from the end of the world and of An unfortunate fling or crazy porn (Golden Bear at the 2011 BerlinaleHe is one of the key figures in contemporary European cinema, and his films explore, in a striking way, the dilemmas and everyday absurdity of characters searching for their place in a society without a moral compass.

The film originated from a real-life suicide triggered by an eviction. How did he shape the story?

— Fifteen years ago, long before I made the film, I saw a news report about a woman who had been evicted and committed suicide. There was also a short interview with the court clerk who handled the eviction, and I was struck by it because she was crying, and everyone was telling her it wasn't her fault, but she felt guilty. Normally, people blame you for things you're not responsible for, but here it was the other way around. I initially took the idea to television, but in Romania we don't make TV movies; we've only started producing a few series in the last ten years. But I kept turning the idea over in my mind, and little by little, the pieces of the story fell into place.

The title, Kontinental '25, alludes to the classic by Roberto Rossellini Europe '51Was it a tribute or did he want to draw some parallel between the themes of the two films?

— First and foremost, it's an acknowledgment of Rossellini's influence, who for me is a great master. But also of the influence ofEurope '51which helped me shape my film. When I still didn't have the structure, I reviewed Europe '51 And I realized they shared themes. Obviously, they're different stories and different filmmakers; Rossellini was a giant. But Europe '51 It became a kind of wall to contain the water in my film, like a riverbed.

Do you also see coincidences between the historical moments of the two films?

— Rossellini's film was made a few years after a Second World War that had devastated Italy. Even so, there was a sense of hope. The war and the Holocaust were over; everyone expected a rebirth and for humanity to emerge better, with better politicians. Europe '51 It's a film about someone with hope, while the protagonist of mine has less optimism. All the hopes of the 1950s proved misguided, or at least failed to materialize. Look at the genocide in Gaza, the invasion of Ukraine, and the inequalities suffered by migrants. There aren't many reasons for hope.

In his films, tragedy goes hand in hand with a certain absurd humor. Kontinental '25 There is a terrible suicide that we don't see, but we do hear and imagine, and based on hearing the protagonist recount the details, the story becomes almost ridiculous.

— Not all my films have that quality, but it's a direction I'm leaning towards. First and foremost, it's due to my personal inclination to see the ridiculous and sometimes absurd aspects of things. And then it's due to the way Romanian culture is structured. During the Ceausescu dictatorship, jokes were very important; everyone made them.And the secret service knew it, but they let it slide because it was a way of managing the regime's brutality. Our great writer, Ion Luca Caragiale, who was like a mentor to Eugène Ionesco, always saw the ridiculous side of everything in his works. Our culture is brutal, with a cruel sense of humor that has made me who I am. That said, this humor is also present in authors like Luis Buñuel, a master at seeing the humorous side of things, often in a grotesque way.

He pays explicit homage to Buñuel in the film with the poster of The bruteInterestingly, his films often remind me of another Spanish filmmaker: Luis García Berlanga.

— The director of the Gijón Film Festival, Alejandro Díaz Castaño, told me this six or seven years ago when we were both on the jury at the Las Palmas Film Festival. I didn't know Berlanga then, but when I got home I started watching his films and I love them. Now I feel very proud when someone sees a connection between my films and his.

Kontinental '25 This is Radu Jude's third film in which a woman wanders around a Romanian city talking to people. What attracts him to this narrative device?

— First of all, it's not about making a trilogy; I'm incapable of thinking in terms of trilogies. Only very ambitious people can say, "Now I'm going to make a trilogy." I simply make one film after another. Someone asked Picasso why he drew in so many different styles, and he replied, "Don't you see that the result is always the same?" I'm not comparing myself to Picasso, who for me is a god, but I do believe that, although there are different aesthetic strategies, in the end the result is similar. In some of my films, I tried to capture the chaos of Bucharest's urban space, but Kontinental '25 It's set in Cluj, in Transylvania, which has a complicated history because it belonged to Austria and Hungary before becoming Romanian, and the people who live in Cluj consider themselves superior to others. And I wanted to show this rich political history, which is visible through the city's urban space, its buildings, and monuments.

The film explores this social tension between Romanians and Hungarians in Transylvania, which has certain parallels with the Catalan reality.

— There are places in Europe with a complicated history that are like a powder keg you feel could explode again. I've never been to Catalonia, and I hope to go next year, but I remember spending a month in San Sebastián teaching at the Tabakalera center and I kept thinking that a few decades ago it was basically a city at war. I'm not a specialist in Spanish history or cinema, but I've always wondered why the great masters like Buñuel, Almodóvar, Albert Serra, or José Luis Guerín don't address the subject of the Civil War. Almodóvar took forty years to mention the subject in a film (Parallel mothers). It is a silence that is difficult to understand.

Cluj has grown a lot in recent years. This helps it to address in Kontinental '25 Romania's housing and gentrification problems.

— The concept of gentrification is quite new to us; it didn't exist in Romania ten or fifteen years ago. But it's becoming a serious problem. I've seen the new film by José Luis Guerín, Stories from the Good ValleyAnd I really like it; I feel all the tenderness and power of the film. But in Romania, a story like this would be very different: all those people would be evicted to make way for large buildings. In Romania, gentrification is linked to other problems such as inequality, chaotic urban planning, the greed of corporations and individuals, and political corruption. It's so complex that it's very difficult to solve.

He mentioned Albert Serra earlier, with whom I believe he maintains a good relationship.

— Yes, we know each other a little, and I appreciate his desire to provoke. Even if I don't like all his films, I have a lot of respect for his work and for him as an artist. He's a filmmaker who pushes the boundaries of cinema. From that perspective, he's a very important filmmaker. And some of his films are masterpieces. The Death of Louis XIV, Liberté, Evenings of Solitude...I like others less, but it doesn't matter. I respect him, and he's a great filmmaker and a great inspiration.

In 2025 he released another film, Draculaa very free and radical interpretation of the myth that Eulàlia Iglesias, critic for ARA, praised Locarno in her chronicle..

— I'm really happy that someone wrote a good review of the film, because it's had a very mixed reception: some people like it, and others absolutely hate it. In Romania, most people dislike it, and in a way, I think that's a good thing. Sometimes it's good to make a film that people don't like. It keeps you fresh and healthy, because otherwise you end up believing the awards and accolades. That's not my case, but even so, I like that it provokes such an intense reaction in people.

I understand that he uses AI in the film, but in a critical way, with a great sense of humor.

— I'm not sure if I do it critically. People say I do, but I actually enjoy it; I have a good time. I'm aware of the dangers and ethical problems, or at least some of them, and of the possibilities. But at the same time, I'm a filmmaker from the periphery of Europe with no money, so I use everything I can to make films. In that sense, I'm like any other Spanish filmmaker. Jesus FrancoIt's not that I like all his films, maybe I don't even like them that much. I like some scenes. But above all, I like the fact that he existed, and that he made all these films. He's an inspiration to me, like Roger Corman, and he makes you feel that anything goes when it comes to making a film. So, if I have an AI, I'm sorry, but I'll use it. That said, I'm going to try to use AI intelligently. The advantage of being on the periphery is that you have nothing to lose. When Dracula It premiered in the United States, and everyone went crazy about the use of AI. And I told them, "Guys, in Romania we're not worried about AI. We don't have an industry or millions of dollars at stake, we're just a bunch of lost souls who make movies."