Small Expectations

The chaotic 2024-2025 election cycle in Romania pushed the country to the brink. Filmmaker Alexandru Solomon followed the election campaign in which Nicusor Dan, Bucharest’s independent mayor, faced off against far-right Trump-acolyte George Simion, a street fighter and expert in deploying social media as a propaganda tool. The rules of the game no longer applied, as social media drove the discourse and a culture war tore the country apart.

Calin Georgescu, an icy ultranationalist who emerged from nowhere, was disqualified over suspected Russian interference, but by then the forces of fascism had already been unleashed. However, the eventual victory of Nicusor Dan, a moderate, did not mean that the danger had passed. Enraged supporters of Simion and Georgescu demanded new elections. Filmmaker Solomon also allows his own views to come through, bearing witness to a cultural battle playing out around the world, with TikTok and Instagram adding fuel to the fire.