Palme d'Or / Corneliu Porumboiu

Corneliu Porumboiu (born September 14, 1975, Vaslui), Romanian film director and screenwriter. He is the son of well-known football referee and businessman Adrian Porumboiu.


Corneliu Porumboiu won in 2004 second place in the Cinefondation section of Cannes Film Festival with short film Traveling to the city (Romanian: Călătorie la oraş). His 2006 feature 12:08 East of Bucharest (Romanian: A fost sau n-a fost?) has won the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, Porumboiu won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with his drama film Police, Adjective (Romanian: Poliţist, Adjectiv); this film won also the Transilvania Trophy at Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF).

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".