Adi, a young anthropologist recently left by his girlfriend, moves to Ferentari (the poorest neighborhood in Bucharest) to write a study on manele music (the pop music of the Roma community). While researching his subject, he meets Alberto, a Roma ex-convict who promises to help him. Soon, the two begin a romance in which Adi feeds Alberto improbable plans to escape poverty while Alberto reciprocates with well-concocted phrases of love. When the money runs out, both find themselves trapped in an apartment where they love and use each other, in a game of need and power that has no winners.
Ivana Mladenovic was born in Serbia and studied Film Directing at the Bucharest National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC). Her filmography includes shorts such as Milky Way (2007), Pizza Love (2008), Afterparty (2009), Skin (2011) and If 6 was 9 (2013), selected for international festivals. Her first documentary feature film, Turn off the Lights, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2012 and won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary and the Gopo Award for Best Romanian Documentari. Soldatii is her first fictional film.