17/06/2025 - This will be the sophomore feature by the Romanian writer, director and producer who previously brought us Rusalka

Director Claudiu Mitcu (© Vlad Braga/Transilvania IFF)

What God Thinks About Animals, the sophomore fiction feature by Romanian director Claudiu Mitcu, is now in post-production after a 20-day shoot earlier this spring. The screenplay was written by Mitcu and Mihai Radu and follows a 70-year-old retired cook, Sandra, who decides to leave her husband Tudor after 50 years of marriage. Upon departing, she joins her best friend Rodica, who is 75, in hospice care instead.

The film stars Rodica Negrea and Nelu Serghei alongside a supporting cast of Romanian actors including Maia Morgenstern, Magda Catone, Aura Călărașu, Ioana Abur, Dana Dogaru, Victoria Cociaș, Ofelia Popii, Andreea Vasile and Alex Potocean, among others.

Luchian Ciobanu is serving as cinematographer, Cătălin Cristuțiu as editor, Alina Tarbă as production designer and Miruna Bălașa as costume designer. What God Thinks About Animals was shot in Bucharest from mid-March to mid-April, with a planned completion date of spring 2026.

Mitcu has said he was drawn to stories common in older generations, where people were stuck in relationships that were not of their liking owing to taboos around divorce or financial difficulties. The film was produced by Mitcu for Parada Film, an outfit co-founded by the filmmaker, in co-production with Wearebasca, a production and post-production company he started in 2004.

The helmer’s debut fiction feature was Rusalka [+see also:
film review
interview: Claudiu Mitcu
film profile] (2024), which world-premiered last year at the Transilvania International Film Festival, within the Romanian Days sidebar. However, Mitcu has been producing and directing documentaries and short films for approximately 20 years through his production companies.

With a total budget of €600,000, the movie was funded in part by the Romanian National Film Center, which granted the project 1 million RON (roughly €200,000) via its Thematic Fiction Films section. The work also received support from McCann-Erickson SRL.