A wedding is supposed to be the most carefully choreographed day of a person's life. In Tudor Giurgiu’s new film, 3 Days in September, that choreography falls apart in spectacular, hilarious fashion. The film, which serves as the opening feature for the 25th Transilvania International Film Festival, follows a bride whose life unravels when she discovers her groom’s infidelity. She flees. The audience follows.

This is a departure for Giurgiu. The Romanian director is best known for heavy, historical works like the 1989-revolution thriller Freedom and the 1941-massacre docudrama The Spruce Forest. He has spent years documenting the scars of history. Now, he is documenting a disaster of a different kind.

The Son Who Changed the Script

Giurgiu’s shift in tone wasn't entirely his own idea. He credits his 19-year-old son for the nudge. The director recalls his son dismissing his previous output as obsessed with communism and the past. "Gen Z wants different stuff," his son told him. "Give us something else."

He listened. Giurgiu began looking for a project that felt lighter, faster, and more experimental. He found inspiration in the work of Radu Jude, a peer known for his restless, low-budget, and highly provocative filmmaking style. Jude often shoots on iPhones and pivots between projects with dizzying speed. Giurgiu wanted that same kinetic energy.

A Single-Take Odyssey

When a friend offered him a hotel in the Black Sea resort town of Eforie Sud, the pieces clicked. Giurgiu assembled a team of creatives who had never worked together before, forming what he dubbed the "Arome Film Creative Camp." They had a location and a team, but they lacked a narrative spine.

That changed when festival artistic director Mihai Chirilov suggested a structural constraint: a massive, 65-minute single-take sequence. Inspired by Matías Bize’s Saturday, the team realized they couldn't film and edit a traditional feature in their one-week production window. They needed a high-wire act. They needed a single take.

"Beside your craft, beside the work with the actors, it was a lot of choreography," Giurgiu says. The script was drafted in a month. The team spent weeks mapping the geography of Eforie Sud to ensure the camera could follow the protagonist, played by Andreea Vasile, through her night-of-the-soul odyssey without a single cut.

Why the Risk Matters

This film is an experiment in endurance. By stripping away the ability to edit, Giurgiu forces the audience into the same frantic, claustrophobic reality as his protagonist. It is a gamble on performance over polish.

For the Romanian film industry, the project serves as a proof of concept for a more agile way of working. If a director of Giurgiu’s stature can pivot from historical epics to a one-take comedy in a matter of months, it suggests a new path for local production. It is fast. It is risky. It is entirely different.

Key Takeaways

  • Giurgiu pivoted from historical drama to comedy after his son challenged him to reach a younger, Gen Z audience.
  • The film utilizes an audacious 65-minute single-take sequence, inspired by the Chilean drama Saturday.
  • The production was filmed in just one week at a Black Sea resort, utilizing a "creative camp" model with a new team of collaborators.

The Transilvania International Film Festival concludes on June 22. By then, the industry will have its answer: whether this experiment in rapid, single-take filmmaking is a one-off curiosity or a viable blueprint for the next generation of Romanian cinema.