Director Cristian Mungiu and Anamaria Marinca (Otilia) on the set of 4 Months... Courtesy of IFC Films

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Even before director Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days picked up the top prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the film had been hastily labeled by the press as "that abortion movie." Now, having garnered a slew of international awards and accolades, the much-touted Romanian film sees its U.S. release.

Mungiu's film follows the harrowing journey of two women over a 24-hour period as one of them tries to secure an illegal abortion. It also provides a subtle commentary on the pitfalls and obstacles ordinary people faced as they tried to negotiate their way through Romania's extensive "underground" or "second" economy, which was dominated by barter and bribery during the dying days of Nicolae Ceausescu's regime (the Romanian president served from 1965 until 1989). When Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) becomes pregnant, she turns to her university roommate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) for help.

The film's opening scenes in the university dorm immediately set up the bleak, overwhelming oppressiveness of Romania in the late 1980s. Products from the West are bought, sold, swapped, and traded in the dorm's black-market economy. The students barter amongst each other, and ordinary folk band together against the omnipresent control of the State. Otilia eventually enlists the darkly controlling Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) to perform Gabita's abortion. He agrees but not before describing in numbing detail a horrifying laundry list of dos and don'ts that the two must scrupulously follow, including: "Don't flush the fetus down the toilet and don't bury it where dogs can dig it up. Go the tenth floor of a high-rise apartment block and throw it down the garbage chute." But before Mr. Bebe will commence his work, the two must pay an appalling price.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is not the only Romanian film of late to capture the attention of film critics and festival jurors alike. Cristian Nemescu's California Dreamin' won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and, two years before, Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu picked up the same honor. The films Occident and 12:08 East of Bucharest were also favorably reviewed.

In this exclusive interview, Mungiu discusses new Romanian cinema as well as talks about how his film has neither pro-life nor pro-choice messages, and why, in a change of direction, his next project involves humor and a pig.

How have things changed for you since Cannes 2007?
We are still not that far away from Cannes, but things have changed. There are superficial things that you notice, like I can't answer my phone and my emails, and I am getting lots of very strange proposals and propositions from lots of people. But eventually things later on are going to change even more. But right away, I am very busy — this is the only thing. And besides [that], people are aware of what I do and curious about it, which is probably the nicest change that happened. And there is a very good life for the film because of the Palm d'Or. It was sold to some 60 territories, which is [amazing for] a film with a very low budget. And it is doing quite well in France and Italy in theaters. So, so far, so good.