The festival season is almost over, so now, all that’s left for us to do is to either return to our good old streaming platforms or resume our trips to the cinema (thank God there are still some that keep their doors open!). Below is a batch of fresh new trailers or which announce movies that will soon be available in Romania.

A Hero (drama, dir. Asghar Farhadi)

With his newest film, A Hero, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi returns to his roots after “taking a break” from his homeland’s social context with Everybody Knows (2018). Farhadi gets back to exploring his favorite topics, that is, the conflict generated by class differences, religion and gender discrimination, and tells the story of Rahim (Amir Jadidi), a man who ends up in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. When he gets a two-day leave, the man tries his best to get out of debt, but things don’t go as planned. A Hero won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The film comes out in Romanian theaters on February 25, 2022.

The Book of Boba Fett (space opera, dir. Jon Favreau, Robert Rodriguez)

The Star Wars franchise has a new upcoming series, this time centered on the popular character Boba Fett, played by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison. The hero’s adventures take him to some well-known places in the Star Wars universe, more precisely to Planet Tatooine, where Fett and his aide, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), do everything in their power to take over the crime syndicate once controlled by Jabba the Hutt. The new series’ directing ensemble includes Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez, and one episode is directed by actress and screenwriter Bryce Dallas Howard.

World premiere on Disney+ on December 29.

Elves / Nisser (fantasy series, dir. Roni Ezra)

When we hear the word “elf”, many of us think of Santa’s helpers, but Scandinavian folklore offers a much less consumerist version of these mythological creatures. The six-episode series explores what happens when two Danes and their children arrive on a remote island where they hope to spend a fairy-tale Christmas, only to soon discover that the locals share the land with some monstrous elves, and the fragile balance between the two races is thrown off when the newcomers find and hide a baby elf.

The series premieres on Netflix on November 28, when most probably our perception of elves will suffer a dramatic change.

Landscapers (comedy, crime miniseries created by Ed Sinclair)

Olivia Colman gives one of her best performances starring as local detective Ellie Miller in the excellent series Broadchurch, but the actress seems to end up on the wrong side of the law in the upcoming true-crime drama Landscapers. Inspired by real-life events, the miniseries revolves around a middle-aged couple (Colman and David Thewlis) who become the focus of a police investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in their back garden. Writing credits go to Ed Sinclair, whose approach seems to favor (a rather dark) humor, whereas the directing position is assumed by Will Sharpe, known for another great series, Giri / Haji.

Premiering on HBO Go on December 6.

Downton Abbey: A New Era (period drama, dir. Simon Curtis)

After enjoying great prominence worldwide (it even got a mention in the superhero sensation The Avengers), the British series Downton Abbey was picked up for a film adaptation which had its big-screen release in 2019. And now, we have a new sequel. Things seem to be going well for the Crawley family, which has had its fair share of troubles over time, especially when the sarcastic Aunt Violet (Maggie Smith) announces that she has inherited a villa on the French Riviera. So the whole clan embarks on what promises to be a trip to remember. Among the new acquisitions of the sequel is actor Hugh Dancy (Hannibal).

World premiere on March 18, 2022.

200 Meters (drama, dir. Ameen Nayfeh)

The Palestinian Film Festival is one of the last festivals of the year, so here are two of its highlights. One can hardly find a film with a more attractive premise than 200 Meters, which explores the complicated social context of Israel and Palestine through an absurd border which divides a Palestinian family. Mustafa and his wife, Salwa, live in two different houses that are only 200 meters apart, except that between them is the border separating the two territories and access is made only through the heavily guarded crossing points. One day, Mustafa learns that his son, who lives on the other side of the border, had an accident and is willing to do anything to get to him.

The film is available on HBO Go and will also screen at the Palestinian Film Festival (November 25-28).

The Stranger (drama, dir. Ameer Fakher Eldin)

The second title we recommend from the Palestinian Film Festival program is The Stranger, the Palestinian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, which had its world premiere a few months ago at the Venice Film Festival. The action takes place in the Golan Heights, a territory with a tormented history, located between Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. Here, the encounter between a doctor and a soldier wounded in the Syrian war will set in motion an unpredictable series of events.

National premiere at the Palestinian Film Festival (November 25-28).

Voir (docuseries, created by David Fincher and David Prior)

The above trailer rather acts as a teaser, still leaving some mystery about David Fincher’s latest project, which is described as a collection of visual essays meant to celebrate cinema and to possibly unravel the mystery of its magic. Influential filmmakers and critics talk about the movies that marked their existence, including Jaws, The Matrix and Mad Max: Fury Road, to name a few, but the documentary also explores the details that turn a film into a masterpiece.

Premiering on Netflix on December 6.