ANASTASIA PASSED BY

The setting is an isolated Romanian village on the banks of the Danube near the Yugoslav border in 1944. This peaceful village, which up to now has not been involved in the war, suddenly becomes a German camp as the soldiers seek out the Romanian and Yugoslav partisans who harass their occupation forces. Mayor Costaiche and the rest of the villagers are terrified and react with cowardice, and it is left to the young school teacher Anastasia to lead the village in a lesson of sensitivity, bravery and human dignity. Drawing on the myth of Antigone, screenwriter Popescu and director Tatos criticize any brutal power which humiliates and degrades mankind. “The best film from Romania in recent years.” – Variety