Milk Teeth (Din\u021bi de lapte), the second fiction feature written and directed by Romanian filmmaker Mihai Mincan, will have its world premiere in the competitive Orizzonti section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, taking place between August 27 and September 6. The official selection was announced Tuesday, July 22, during the festival\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n
This marks Mincan\u2019s second selection in the Orizzonti section, following his 2022 debut To the North (Spre Nord), which won the Bisato d\u2019Oro award from the association of independent critics in Venice.<\/p>\n
The Orizzonti section, dedicated to showcasing the latest and most expressive trends in global cinema, will be judged this year by a jury led by French director and screenwriter Julia Ducournau. Other jurors include Italian filmmaker Yuri Ancarani, Argentine film critic Fernando Enrique Juan Lima, Australian director Shannon Murphy, and American director and writer RaMell Ross.<\/p>\n
\u201cMilk Teeth spent six years searching for its own voice,\u201d said Mincan. \u201cIt started as a genre film exercise and ended up becoming something more abstract, harder to define. Its final form is a mix of the time and place I find myself in and a team who believed in me and gave me everything. I owe them more than just a film.\u201d<\/p>\n
The producers, Radu Stancu and Ioana Lasc\u0103r of deFilm, described the film as an allegory about Romania\u2019s transition from communism to the hope of a new society after 1989. \u201cIt captures the uncertainty and fear of that time. Maria\u2019s search for truth reflects a generation\u2019s longing for justice and change, and symbolizes the hope for a free future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film will premiere in Venice with the attendance of director and screenwriter Mihai Mincan, producers Radu Stancu and Ioana Lasc\u0103r, associate producer Carmen Rizac, and cast members Emma Ioana Mogo\u0219, Marina Palii, Igor Babiac, and Istvan Teglas. Also attending are cinematographer George Chiper-Lillemark, editor Drago\u0219 Apetri, composer Marius Left\u0103rache, production designer Anamaria \u021aecu, costume designer Dana P\u0103p\u0103ruz, and line producer Adrian Moroca.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Milk Teeth is an international co-production between Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, and Bulgaria, and features the screen debut of young actress Emma Ioana Mogo\u0219 in the lead role. Set in the late 1980s, the film follows Maria, a 10-year-old girl from a provincial town whose older sister suddenly disappears. As her parents desperately search for their missing daughter, Maria turns to her friends for help, and in doing so, is forced to find the courage to grow up.<\/p>\n
The supporting cast includes Marina Palii, Igor Babiac, Istv\u00e1n T\u00e9gl\u00e1s, Victor-Ioan Rogobete, Lara Maria Alexandra Com\u0103nescu, Maia-Victoria Boboc, Albert Ciut\u0103, Karina-Ziana Gherasim, Tudor Morar, Mihaela R\u0103descu, Ada Lupu, C\u0103t\u0103lin Filip, Luca-David C\u0103r\u0103van, and Ingrid-Maria Tirintic\u0103.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Milk Teeth will be released in Romanian cinemas this fall, distributed by T.R.I.B.E Films.<\/p>\n
Mihai Mincan began his filmmaking career in 2008 as a screenwriter for The\u00a0<\/em>Palm Lines\u00a0(Palmele), directed by George Chiper-Lillemark and selected at Locarno, Rotterdam, and Cottbus. He later directed three short films produced by deFilm – Alaska (2014), Cometa (2017), and Idila (2019) – all of which premiered at major European festivals. In 2019, he co-directed two TV documentaries, The Man Who Would Be Free and Emigrant Blues, both licensed to Romanian public broadcaster TVR.\u00a0<\/p>\n His debut feature To the North (Spre Nord), a thriller filmed across three countries with a multilingual cast, premiered in Venice\u2019s Orizzonti competition in 2022 and was selected by over 25 international festivals. The film earned 13 Gopo nominations in 2024, winning three, including Best Debut, Best Cinematography, and Young Hope for actor Niko Becker. It also won five awards from the Romanian Filmmakers Union, including Best Film and the Grand Prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n To the North is currently available on HBO Max and Antena Play.<\/p>\n irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n