12:08 East of Bucharest

On December 22, 1989, at exactly 12:08 p.m., the Romanian revolution was over as dictator Nicolae Ceausescu abdicated power and communist rule ended. Sixteen years later, a television debate show features the revolution as its sole topic. But when several panelists decline to appear, the show is left with just two guests – a drunkard history teacher named Manescu and a part-time Santa Claus named Piscoci. The guests are nostalgic and proud of the glorious revolution, Manescu claiming to have been revolting in the streets just moments before 12:08 p.m. Calls immediately start streaming into the studio from listeners who are eager to challenge the panelist's description of the revolution and to offer their own versions of the nation-altering event. With humor and grace, the film accurately captures the reality that most people are only by-standers to history and that everyone is bound to have their own version of the truth. Excellent performances bring a clever and amusing script to fruition in a wholly satisfying comedic take on history, its implications, and its many distortions. (In Romanian with English subtitles) – J.B.H.