Palme d'Or / Cristian Nemescu

Cristian Nemescu (March 31, 1979, Bucharest - August 24, 2006, Bucharest), Romanian director, writer and producer.


He graduated the Academy of Theater and Cinema in Bucharest in 2003. His graduation film was a short story entitled Poveste de la scara C (C Block Story), which has won the NYU International Student Film Festival and the Premiers Plans in Angers, France. The European Academy Awards nominated as "best short film" of that year. Nemescu won over 20 awards, including Grand Prize at the NYU International Student Film Festival in New York, Special Jury Prize at the Brussels Short Film Festival in Belgium, Public's Choice at Milan Film Festival in Italy, Public Prize at the International Festival Grenzland Filmtage Germany.

The director died in a car crash along with his sound engineer Andrei Toncu. His last movie California Dreamin' (Nesfârşit) (2007), starring Armand Assante, was in post-production, when the accident happened. It was later awarded the Un Certain Regard Awards at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

On 28 May 2007, the president of Romania granted post mortem by a decree, the National Order "For Merit" in rank of Knight, for "outstanding contribution to the promotion of Romanian cinema".