Actor Cristian Bota

Cristian Bota, one of the most active and successful young actors in Romania, returns to the big screen with his first part in a comedy film.

Corina Sabău, 19.04.2025, 14:00

Cristian Bota, one of the most active and successful young actors in Romania, returns to the big screen with a role in a comedy film entitled Țăndări, which recently opened in cinemas across the country. The first feature film by Bogdan Naumovici, who is mostly known as a creative director in advertising, is inspired by a real event: the players in a football match held in a village would stop playing every time a funerary cortege would pass by on their way to a nearby cemetery. Cristian Bota plays Enrique in the film, a young man full of airs who just got back from Spain. It’s the first time the actor has a role in a comedy and the first time he works with Bogdan Naumovici. He spoke to RRI about this experience:

“It was first and foremost a new experience, because I hadn’t been in a comedy film before. I’d been in a TV series, Bani negri, which could have been considered a comedy, but I chose to emphasise different things, I tried to highlight my character’s innocence and the seriousness of his predicament. So it was a challenge being in a comedy and accepting that it’s an entirely comic role and that I would be doing everything to be funny. I think maybe I was a little afraid of playing in this kind of commercial comedy, because privately I love art house films. However, being 32 years old, I decided that I would break down all my barriers, whatever they may be. And from now on I would like to also play comic roles because I found a joy in this type of character. A comedy implies a different kind of shooting, of composition and of relating to the other characters. Art house film focus on the atmosphere, pay great attention to the cinematography and to the sound and the way in which these elements are connected, while commercial comedies focus more on the situations in which the characters find themselves, they have a lot of dialogue and are very dynamic, it all happens at high speed. There are, however, some rules in a comedy film for writing the jokes, a certain rhythm, a sense of dynamism that is developed in such a way as not to bore the public.”

A graduate of the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest, Cristian Bota has so far been involved in more than 20 different projects. He featured in the series Clanul (directed by Anghel Damian) and Bani negri (directed by Daniel Sandu), as well as a lot of feature films, including The Father Who Moves Mountains (2021, directed by Daniel Sandu), Heidi (2019, directed by Cătălin Mitulescu), One Step Behind the Seraphim (2017, directed by Daniel Sandu), In Perfect Health (2017, directed by regia Anca Damian), Octav (2017, directed by Serge Ioan Celibidachi). His first lead role was in White Gate (2014), a drama directed by Nicolae Mărgineanu about the lives of the inmates at the Danube-Black Sea Canal forced labour camps created by the former communist regime. Cristian Bota:

“White Gate was my first feature film and the first time I worked with director Nicolae Mărgineanu, who, alongside Stere Gulea, is one of the most experienced directors in Romania. I like giving my best shot, as I did in this film. I do the same in my private life, with my kids, and on the tennis court. I can’t do any other way, I can’t work without getting emotionally involved. I can’t do things unless I really love them, I can’t do things I don’t believe in. Projects like these oblige me to do things in this way and I think I will continue to do so.”

Cristian Bota also played an important role in one of the most successful Romanian short films in recent years, A Night in Tokoriki (2016), by Roxana Stroe. The film was produced as part of a masters course at the university and won the special prize for best short film from the international jury of the Generation 14plus sidebar at the Berlin International Film Festival and the best cinematography award at the Student Film Festival in Tel Aviv. Cristian Bota tells us more:

“Roxana Stroe is, I might say, my favourite director and I’m sorry she hasn’t made any feature films yet. She knows how to highlight my talents more than any other director I’ve worked with. Apart from the Berlin Film Festival, where it won an award, A Night in Tokoriki travelled to many festivals and I think it’s the most successful film I’ve been in, even if it’s a short film. I was in two other short films by Roxana Stroe, Appalachia, where I play a blonde motorcyclist, and London. It’s a joy for me to work with her and indeed, A Night in Tokoriki is one of my dearest projects.”

Cristian Bota also wrote and directed the short films Karmasutra, which was nominated for the Gopo Awards, and Lame Duck, from 2016, and is now working on a new film.