THRILLER | HORROR | ROMANIA | 4K | 5.1 | 83 MIN
Secluded from the world, in XIX-century rural Romania,
a widow and mother of three must defend what’s left of her family, at all costs, from an old family friend turned foe.
Based on one of the best-known Romanian folktales (The Goat and Her Three Kids by Ion Creangă), this film aims to unveil the true nature of the famed bedtime story
and to treat the audience to a different perspective, one that offers a glimpse of what the tragedy looks like beyond the happy songs and familiar characters.
* * *
The story of The Goat and Her Three Kids (the Romanian version of Grimm's The Wolf and The Sever Young Goats)
can safely be regarded as Romania's best-known and most controversial children's tale.
With its origins dating as far back as the 5th century BCE, the story of The Goat and Her Three Kids has variations all over the world, deeply rooted in numerous cultures, each region having assigned to it elements specific to their geography, customs, or traditions. (i.e. the animals portraying the characters, the number of offspring, and the punishment bestowed upon the antagonist all vary, but, in essence, the plot is unaltered). In the La Fontaine version, there's only one kid, in East Asia, the wolf is replaced by a tiger, and in the Grimm's version, there are 7 kids instead of 3.
The story's international popularity is confirmed by the success its animated versions presently have online, gathering billions of views all over the world. In Romania, the most popular animated version reached 37 million views on YouTube in the last 3 years.
Though, in recent years, the controversy formed around this story may be its demise. Elements that for centuries have held their place into its narrative are now euphemized or erased because of their violent nature. Transitioning it into film ensures its preservation and survival, into a more proper context and medium, conferring everyone the opportunity to revisit the old, original version when ready to do so.
The movie follows in closely to the original storyline augmenting its subtleties and, for the most part, keeping its dialogue.
F A C T S
ABOUT THE MOVIE
In Romania, the director's artistic approach, the iconic Maia Morgenstern, and the popularity of the story inevitably translated into the success of the movie. Thus, The Goat and Her Three Kids movie was:
- awarded the Audience Award at TIFF 2022.
- the premiere with the highest no. of entries in cinemas. A performance that placed "The Devil's Light" and "The Woman Kind" 2nd and 3rd on the podium.
- #1 on Netflix Romania for 8 days (4 weeks on top 10).
- was the 2nd most GOOGLED movie title in 2022 in Romania (#3 Black Adam).
- viral on TikTok (more than 10 million hits).
- nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costumes at GOPO Awards 2023.
D I R E C T O R
If you are taken aback by my approach on our childhood story, know that it is only normal. Most likely, you are not the only one thinking that this is not how the story went. I’d urge you to give it another read. It is our gift to come into this world equipped to experience things in their purest form and entirely neglect any foulness or malintent. This story is closely tied to our upbringing, our families, our first days of school, and our friends. So naturally, you carry with you a preconception as you walk into the cinema. I must admit it was the same preconception that swayed me to set out on this adventure and I must apologize for choosing such an important piece of literature for my debut as a film director! I underestimated the task that was at hand by thinking: "it’s just a short, simple bedtime story with a little hidden gore."
However, during the last 6 years of my life that I dedicated towards the completion of this project, I had plenty of time to come to my senses and, hopefully, managed to do it justice after all.
Before I go on, I must acknowledge that, so far, I have addressed only the Romanian public. That doesn’t mean the movie can’t be watched by anyone regardless of nationality! I just felt like I owed everyone that grew up with this story a special introduction.
Regarding "why this story?" the answer is rather simple. No one has ever done it before. The realization that there were no adaptations of this story out there to be watched was nothing short of an epiphany for me. And much more important than that, my wife was on board with the idea!
The first external source of inspiration had to be my former acting teacher, Romania’s acting icon and the fricking mother of God, Maia Morgenstern! It felt so natural that the two should come together, her and this iconic role, that I am confident it was just a mere matter of time till someone else would have made it happen. And how lucky am I to have been the instrument that coalesced them?
Now, I am not a superstitious man, nor do I hold any firm reasons to believe in destiny, but I must admit, sometimes, in retrospect, it feels like this project had a mind of its own and that we were simply there to do its bidding. Through a series of events, the antagonist of the story, the big bad wolf, came to life through the unique figure of Marius Bodochi who, through his talent, decades of experience, haunting voice and charisma, gave us all the wolf we never knew this film needed!
Finally, I’d like to leave you with this: If you happen to watch The Goat and Her Three Kids know that I have done everything that was in my power to make the movie I wanted to watch. To what extent I managed to pull it off really doesn’t matter! What matters is that, when you watch it, you’re seeing much more than just an adaptation of a famous plot. You are seeing the conglomerated result of combined efforts, of risk, passion, teamwork, immense sacrifice, and a childhood promise that I was fortunate enough to see fulfilled.
P R O D U C E R
One thing we’ve learned about the industry, living in the USA, is that the audience’s pre-awareness regarding your movie’s title is crucial. That’s one of the reasons we chose this story. The Goat and Her Three Kids is probably the best title the post-communist Romanian film industry has to offer.
After a 6 year struggle to produce it, this movie is the first of its kind in Romania, coalescing two of the country’s major landmarks: the famed story and Maia Morgenstern (the nation’s best known and most valued actress) into a genre not so common among Romanian movies (despite being extremely popular).
Coming out of postproduction, our movie began its life cycle as part of TIFF (Transylvania International Film Festival), the biggest film festival in Romania and top 40 in the world. There, both screenings were sold out 5 days in advance (unique performance in the festival) and the movie took home The Audience Award for Most Popular Romanian Film.
A craving for this production was obvious and, frankly, anticipated way before the movie even existed.
First proof of this was our short film (same title, same actors) that came before the feature and which turned out to be quite successful and a major step forward. Its trailer reached almost 200k organic views on a YouTube channel with 64 subscribers and 0 marketing.
In order to find private investors for the feature film, we organized a tour taking the short film across the USA, going from one Romanian community to the other. The tour included 11 cities: Chicago IL, Boston MA, New York NY, Philadelphia PA, Cleveland OH, Washington DC, Atlanta GA, Denver CO, Seattle WA, San Francisco CA and Los Angeles CA. Within little less than two months, every city mentioned was sold out, having all the events lined up and waiting for us, proving once more the popularity of this story and the demand for it.
With the tour cut short after Ohio, because of the pandemic outbreak, we returned to Romania with most of the budget sought out for, began production and ultimately concluded our project.
photos by ADRIAN NASTASE
A C T O R S
It’s impossible to imagine a better fit for the iconic role of the widowed mother than MAIA MORGENSTERN, movie star and a symbol for the whole Romanian theater, winner of countless international awards and easily the best known and most appreciated Romanian actress.
On the flipside of the same coin we have MARIUS BODOCHI, a theatrical star, valued by the entire country and a treasure of the National Theater of Bucharest , who through his unique style and distinctive voice brought flesh to bone to the famed antagonist.
Interpreting the roles of the three kids are ANTONIO GAVRILĂ, RAZVAN ILINA and SILVIU CORBU each reminding us in their own personal way that at the rut of acting lies the pleasure and capability to play.
photos by ADRIAN NASTASE
C R E W
Writer and Director - VICTOR CANACHE
Producer and Art Director LUANA GEORGIŢĂ
Director of Photography - LULU DE HILLERIN (The Protégé)
Editing - TUDOR D. POPESCU (Gopo Award for best editing) and VICTOR CANACHE
Sound recording RADU NICOLAE (The Nun)
Sound design and music SEBASTIAN SZEMLYE (Gopo Award for best sound)
VFX Supervisor OCTAVIAN URECHE (Jurassic World; Hawaii).
photos by ALEX BRENDEA
Transilvania International Film Festival 2022
WINNER
Audience Award - Most popular Romanian Movie
NOMINEE
FIPRESCI Prize - Romanian Days
NOMINEE
Best Feature Film - Romanian Days Award
„I ALWAYS FOUD THIS STORY DISTURBING, BUT I NEVER REALISED WHAT AN INCREDIBLE MOVIE IT WOULD MAKE, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT. „
"FOR REAL? I CAN’T BELIVE IT! HOW LONG I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS MADE BY US... IT’S UNREAL. MAIA AND MARIUS FIT THE ROLES SO WELL...”
"GOD, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE, I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER BEEN SO EAGER TO WATCH A MOVE BEFORE. IT’S AUTHENTIC, IT’S A LESON FOR ALL GENERATIONS.”
„WOOWW!!!! THIS IS ROMANIA!!! HOW MUCH POTENTIAL, FASCINATING TOP QUALITY!!! WITH POSITIVE EXASPERATION I WOULD GLADLY PAY FOR A TICKET!!!!”
„BRILIANT IDEA”
„FINALY A ROMANIAN MOVIE WOTH SEING IN THE CINEMA”
„DAMN! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT”
„WOW! THIS IS PURE GOLD!”
A B O U T T H E P R O D U C T I O N
C R E D I T S
a film by
VICTOR CANACHE
BASED ON THE GOAT AND HER THREE KIDS BY ION CREANGĂ (1875)
produced by
LUANA GEORGIȚĂ
VICTOR CANACHE
executive producer
VINICIUS CORDOȘ
executive producers
DIMITRIOS TSITSOPOULOS
ELENA TSITSOPOULOS
co-executive producers
CĂLIN MOIGRĂDAN
TIBERIU HRAB
LUMINIȚA ISPAS
LILIANA ONIȚĂ LENCO
AUREL VELICANU
DORU PUSCAS
MIHAI CRIHANĂ
director of photography
LULU DE HILLERIN
art director
LUANA GEORGIȚĂ
editing
VICTOR CANACHE
TUDOR D. POPESCU
sound design and music
SEBASTIAN ZSEMLYE
special thanks
GEORGIȚĂ ION
GEORGIȚĂ TUDOR
MAIA MORGENSTERN
MARIUS BODOCHI
THE GOAT AND HER THREE KIDS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
LUANA GEORGIŢĂ
1'ST AD
ISABELA VON TENT
VFX SUPERVISOR
OCTAVIAN URECHE
COLOR GRADING
RĂZVAN DIMITRIU
CAST
The Goat
The wolf
Youngest Kid
Oldest Kid
second Kid
secript supervisor
storyboard
production asistants
scenografia
constructori decor
recuziter sef
recuziteri
patină decor
efecte speciale filmare
costume
asistenţi costume
machiaj si machiaj prostetic
director de imagine
camera A
camera B
director de imagine echipa a 2-a
focus puller camera A
asistenţi camera A
focus puller camera B
asistent camera B
tehnician gimbal
director de imagine material aditional
pilot drona A
operator cameră drona A
pilot drona B
inginer sunet
microfonist
DIT
gaffer
best boy electric
best boy electric
key grip
best boy grip
tehnician crane
fotografi platou
dublură Capra
dublură Lup
coordonator de cascade
dublură Lup
cascadori utilitari
mulțumiri
cioara
stăpâni Cronco
catering
bucătar
transport
cazare
contabilitate
asigurare
închiriere echipamente
închiriere recuzită
mulțumiri
închiriere costume
mulțumiri
POSTPRODUCȚIE
studio montaj
montaj
montaj trailer
studio sunet
mixaj sunet
muzică
editare dialog
artist zgomote
înregistrare zgomote
studio post-producție imagine
colorist
post-producție și efecte vizuale
supervizor efecte vizuale
mulțumiri
motion graphics
traduceri
subtitrare
autor poster
MAIA MORGENSTERN
MARIUS BODOCHI
ANTONIO GAVRILĂ
RĂZVAN ILINA
SILVIU CORBU
CLEOPATRA MEDVETCHI
VICTOR CANACHE
LUCA VLAD
DANIEL NUŢĂ
NICOLETA APPERTI
LUANA GEORGIŢĂ
VICTOR CANACHE
ION GEORGIŢĂ
TUDOR GEORGIŢĂ
VICTOR CANACHE
LUANA GEORGIŢĂ
ANDREI ȘOVA
ȘTEFAN ȘOVA
TUDOR GEORGIŢĂ
BIANCA MARIA PĂUN
TUDOR GEORGIŢĂ
IOLANDA MUTU JR.
RALUCA DANIELA OPREA
DANIELA DIACONESCU
ALINA BEDELEANU
CRISTINA DRAGUSIN
CRISTINA CALARA
DANIEL DOBRE
LULU DE HILLERIN
ALEX BRENDEA
CĂTĂLIN NICA
ALEX BRENDEA
ANDREI KARASTANEF
IONUŢ OCHIANĂ
RADU BARBU
CĂTĂLIN NICA
CONSTANTIN STAN
VALENTIN LUSCAN
IONUŢ OCHIANĂ
ALEXANDRU CONSTANTINESCU
CĂTĂLIN VOINEA
DAN BONDRILA
ALEX BRENDEA
RADU NICOLAE
VLAD VOINESCU
MIHAI TĂNĂSESCU
VASILE DODU
MIHAI GRÂNARU
ADRIAN DOBRE
LAURENŢIU HARASIM
MARIAN DARIE
ION DARIE
ADRIAN NĂSTASE
RAFAEL GABOR
ALEX BRENDEA
DELIA POPESCU
OANA POPESCU
VICTOR CANACHE
PETRE MARIN
LUCIAN RĂDUCANU
DANI VISAN
PAUL BUDEANU
COSMIN SOARE
RĂZVAN PUIU
CRONCO
SIMONA MODORAN
MITI MODORAN
CASA GURMANDULUI
CRISTINA CĂPĂŢÂNĂ
BARTOLOMEI TIBERIU
DIACONU BOGDAN
LILIANA CHIVA
IOTU IONEL (ȘEF TOTO)
RĂZVAN VOINA
PENSIUNEA ENOTHERA ROSEMA
PENSIUNEA SAKURA
CENTRUL DE ECHITAȚIE LA COPACI
TUDOR GEORGIȚĂ
PSG INSURANCE BROKER
R3 FILM RENTAL
XTR LOGISTIC FILM
FIX FILM
AZITROF CONSULTING
CREATIVE PRODUCTION DESIGN
ELENA DUȚESCU
TEO GORAȘ
TIBERIU POPESCU
ENĂCHESCU GHEORGHE
APOSTOIU MIRELA EMILIA
STUDIOURILE BUFTEA
PIEPTARE POPULARE BISTRIȚA
CUFĂRUL ACTORILOR
ATELIER FOARTE FRUMOS
DUȚESCU ELENA
IRINA GEORGIȚĂ †
MĂRIOARA TOMOROGA †
MĂRIOARA HORNEA
CASA DE FILME NOUĂ
POPSKI PRODUCTION
VICTOR CANACHE
TUDOR D. POPESCU
ALEX PINTICĂ
RAZA
SEBASTIAN ZSEMLYE
SEBASTIAN ZSEMLYE
ALEX DRAGOMIR
SEBASTIAN ZSEMLYE
INA BOZDOG
POSTLIGHT
RĂZVAN DIMITRIU
OKTO
OCTAVIAN URECHE
RAOUL WENTZEL
CĂTĂLINA BIDIU
DANI RĂDULESCU
MARIO SUSAC
VICTOR CANACHE
DENISE JOSSE
LUANA GEORGIȚĂ
EUGEN ERHAN
MUZICĂ
Cântă cucu-n vârf de nuc
Autor muzical: tradițional
Artist: Sofia Vicoveanu
Caval : SILVESTRU LUNGOCI
Editor: UCMR-ADA România
© & (P) 1987, Electrecord România
ISRC ROB011642535
Fluierașe și buciume și bocet
Autor muzical: Mihai Moldovan
Artist: Corul National de Cameră Madrigal
Editor: UCMR-ADA România
© & (P) 1995, Electrecord România
ISRC ROB012191841
Doină din Maramureș
Improvizație liberă pe teme tradiționale
Voce: Maria Casandra Hauși
Ney: Mehdi Aminian
© & (P) 2014, Roots Revival
ILUSTRAŢII
Coca Crețoiu
ABECEDAR
Editura de stat didactică și pedagogică, București 1975
Marian Barbu
MULȚUMIRI
Alina Celia Cumpan
Cera Stan
Vinicius Cordoș
Adrian Năstase
Cătălin Constantin Nicolae
Liliana Oniță Lenco
Aurel Velicanu (Rache)
Andra Roxana Stanciu
Constanța Bârloiu
Kristi Hutchinson
Kimbirdlee Fadner
Cristina Petrescu
John Bikis
Bogdan Banu
Marie-Louise Paulesc
George Acsente
Adrian Barbu
Ioana Mandache
Toni Cristian Tănase
Gabi Suciu
Teo Goraș
Authentic Society for Language and Romanian Culture
Stan Mansion
Tibi Hrab
Bogdan Năstase
Mihai Lehene
Asociația Românilor din New England
Andreea Onofras
Cătălin Stelian-Shanks
Andre Cappon
Raluca Cimpoiașu
Dorian Branea
Sabin Pop
Adriana Bikis
Otilia Baraboi
Paul Bara
Maria-Cristina Iordan
Vera Mijojlic
Anca Hrab
Bogdan Rusu
Milea Oana Maria
Cătălin Voinea
Bogdan Popescu
PRIMĂRIA MALU CU FLORI
Ion Constantin – Primar
Ionel Duțescu – Viceprimar
Georgiana Farcaș
Pop Valentina – proprietar casa Lupului
Stoica Mirena
TIBERIU POPESCU
DELIA POPESCU
Mihai Popescu
Oana Popescu
Mihaela Farcaș
Florin Cepoi
Darius Ivașcu
Constantin Ivașcu
MULȚUMIRI PATREON-ILOR
Sarajane Matias
Dorin Ulicean
Lorelei Dumitrescu
Adrian Talapan
Alina Sânziana Filipoaia
Sebi Popa
Tibi Hrab
Bianca Tulea
Rusalina Mincu
Dragos Gabriel
Teodor Candrea
Vlad Iliescu
MULȚUMIRI SUSȚINĂTORILOR CAMPANIILOR DE CROWDFUNDING
Branka Paicu
Moldovan Alexandru
George Stoian
Chungsoo Lee
Mircea Goia
Teodor Goraș
Cătălin Stelian
Denise Josse
Daniel Tudorache
Cătălina Elena
Tiberiu Buzdugan
Roxana Patrașciuc
Pascale Baladi
Ioana Muthi
Emanuel Petrescu
Cosmin Gabriel Cucoș
Harșian Călin Liviu
Doce Viorel
Vasile S. Grigore
Cera Stan
Adriana Constantinescu
Cristina Susan
Ina Gurău
Dragos Cărbuneanu
Andreea Grigore
Sorana Bîrsan
Gabriel Sabiescu
Răzvan Dragan
Octavia Coza
John Billy
Alex Stan
Niță Bogdan Mihaiță
Ludviga Batormora
Simona Garcia
Bessie Tsitsopoulos
Elena Stan
Marius Stan
Marina Zouzias
Ciprian Margarint
Alexandra Ciuciuc
Ana Maria Buca
Mihaluta Irina
Adi Sandu
Iulian Sîrbu
Claire Olivia Lebigot
Ioana Stamanichi
Zainea Florin
Mihaela Tudor
Acest film a fost realizat cu sprijinul
TOP LINE EUROPA
SALIX
EVALCONT CORPORATION
BOSON ELECTRO
LIGNUM TREND
CASA GURMANDULUI
ENOTHERA ROSEMA
ÎNVIE TRADIȚIA
LA COPACI
Filmările au fost realizate în localitatea Malu cu flori, jud. Dâmbovița
logouri
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Î N A M I N T I R E A B U N I C I L O R N O Ș T R I
C O N T A C T
PRODUCER
LUANA GEORGIŢĂ
CASA DE FILME NOUĂ
RO: +4 0747 891 188
US: +1 224 421 4089
DIRECTOR
VICTOR CANACHE
RO: +4 0742 193 072
US: +1 224 41 4022
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