– The prolific Romanian auteur is set to begin shooting his newest film under this working title in two villages outside of Bucharest
Director Radu Jude (© 2025 Dario Caruso for Cineuropa – dario-caruso.fr, @studio.photo.dar)
Under the working title Love Diptych (Romanian title: Cum vine blînda noapte), acclaimed Romanian helmer Radu Jude is expected to shoot his newest feature in the next few weeks, undoubtedly continuing his zeitgeist-penetrating perspective on the world. With the movie, he continues his prolific streak, having just world-premiered his first non-Romanian-language film, The Diary of a Chambermaid, in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and, prior to that, his inventive take on Dracula at Locarno in summer 2025.
According to reports, shooting will start between 10 and 24 June 2026, and will last 13 days. The shoot will be taking place in the villages of Dârza (Dâmbovița County) and Sitaru (Ilfov County), both approximately an hour by car outside of Bucharest. With an expected premiere date of early 2027 (winter/spring), perhaps we could expect the auteur’s return to the Berlinale after Kontinental ’25, which collected the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 75th edition of the festival.
In his most recent works, the Romanian filmmaker has been inspired by existing tales and mythologies, spinning them into biting, dark-humoured commentaries and critiques on contemporary societies and their maladies. In the director’s own words, Love Diptych “represents a clearing of [his] obligation towards Romanian realities” and “towards an idea about low-budget cinema as an essential form of filmmaking”. Jude has said the movie is in dialogue with Roberto Rossellini’s 1948 anthology film L’Amore, which is itself a diptych.
With a budget of just half a million euros, the film is a co-production between Romania, Brazil, Greece and Ukraine. Alex Teodorescu will produce for Saga Film (Romania), alongside Rodrigo Teixeira for RTF Productions (Brazil), Christos V Konstantakopoulos for Faliro House (Greece) and Volodymyr and Anna Yatsenko for Forefilms (Ukraine), in partnership with iSTYLE România.
Jude reunites with several of his frequent behind-the-camera collaborators, including DoP Marius Panduru, editor Cătălin Cristuțiu and costume designer Cireșica Cuciuc. The cast also includes several regular performers in Jude’s oeuvres, including Oana Maria Zaharia, Endre Racz, Șerban Pavlu, Gabriel Spahiu and Ilinca Manolache. Nicoleta Hâncu stars as the only announced leading cast member who has yet to work with the filmmaker.
Two special appearances have also been revealed: singer and poet Lydia Lunch – known for her influence on the “no wave” avant-garde artistic scene of 1970s New York City – and visual and video artist Pierre Weiss, best known for his exhibitions in France.
