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.

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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.

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The story of The Goat and Her Three Kids (the Romanian version of The Wolf and The Sever Young Goats - Brothers Grimm)

can safely be regarded as Romania's best known and most controversial children's tale.

Included in the primary education cycle shortly after its publication (1875) and illustrated in the opening pages of the ABC's between the 70's and the 90's,

the tale became ingrained into the Romanian culture. Finding a Romanian today not familiar with it would be, to say the least, impressive. 

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    The story's popularity, is confirmed by the success its animated versions presently have on-line, gathering billions of views all over the world.

In Romania, the most popular animated version reached 28 million views on YouTube in the last 2 years.

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Though, in recent years, the controversy formed around this story may be it's demise. Elements that for centuries have held their place into it's narrative are now euphemized or erased because of their violent nature. Transitioning it into film ensures it's 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.

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The movie follows in closely to the original storyline augmenting its subtleties and, for the most part, keeping its dialogs.

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 THRILLER | HORROR | ROMANIA | 4K | 5.1 | 83 MIN

D I R E C T O R

V I C T O R  C A N A C H E

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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?

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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!

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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.

photos by ADRIAN NASTASE

P R O D U C E R

L U A N A  G E O R G I Ț Ă

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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.

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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).

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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.

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A craving for this production was obvious and, frankly, anticipated way before the movie even existed.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

A W A R D S

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Transilvania International Film Festival 2022

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WINNER
Audience Award - Most popular Romanian Movie

NOMINEE

FIPRESCI Prize - Romanian Days
 

NOMINEE
Best Feature Film - Romanian Days Award

photos by NICU CHERCIU

T R A I L E R  R E A C T I O N S

M O R E 

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„I ALWAYS FOUD THIS STORY DISTURBING, BUT I NEVER REALISED WHAT AN INCREDIBLE MOVIE IT WOULD MAKE, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT. „

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"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...”

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"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.”

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„WOOWW!!!! THIS IS ROMANIA!!! HOW MUCH POTENTIAL, FASCINATING TOP QUALITY!!! WITH POSITIVE EXASPERATION I WOULD GLADLY PAY FOR A TICKET!!!!”

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„BRILIANT IDEA”

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„FINALY A ROMANIAN MOVIE WOTH SEING IN THE CINEMA”

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„DAMN! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT”

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„WOW!  THIS IS PURE GOLD!”

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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

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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

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THE GOAT AND HER THREE KIDS

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PRODUCTION MANAGER

LUANA GEORGIŢĂ

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1'ST AD

ISABELA VON TENT

VFX SUPERVISOR

OCTAVIAN URECHE

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COLOR GRADING

RĂZVAN DIMITRIU

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CAST

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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

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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

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cazare

contabilitate

asigurare

închiriere echipamente

închiriere recuzită

mulțumiri

închiriere costume

mulțumiri

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POSTPRODUCȚIE

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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

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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

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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

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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