YOU DON'T BELONG HERE
Genre: Drama
Year: 2026
Directors: Florin Şerban
Cast: Adrian Văncică, Teodor Butănescu, Cristina Richter
Writer: Florin Şerban
Country: Romania
LOCARNO IFF 2026 - INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Marius is the chief medical officer at a hospital in his small hometown, raising a teenage son, Ioan, alone after the death of his wife. He is a confident professional, who has no idea what his son gets up to at night, cycling through town vandalising cars with a gang of masked vigilantes. Marius’s world is shaken when he learns that the police have come to suspect his son of murder.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
The initial idea for You Don’t Belong Here came from a scene I wrote for an acting class some years ago. I teach at Școala de Film (The Film School) in Bucharest, a film school I founded with a few other filmmakers. At the time, we were working on the theme of conflict between generations. In the scene, a father had to hide the overwhelming disdain he felt for his son. It felt deeply wrong at a visceral level, and it stayed with me over the years.
At one point, I remembered a quote by Hannah Arendt: “The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution,” and then things kind of fell into place. The disdain does not need to be visceral; it is the contempt of an old revolutionary towards a new one. It felt good as a narrative spine, and it stayed that way until I started casting.
As it stands, You Don’t Belong Here is, above all, a portrait of a way of seeing the world that may be disappearing. Or perhaps should disappear.
- Florin Şerban, writer and director
WORLD PREMIERE - LOCARNO IFF