Keep Your Eyes on Happiness

“Keep Your Eyes on Happiness” was my first long feature as a director. The script, written in collaboration with Lucian Georgescu, is a political thriller centred on the manipulating power of television – a very relevant theme in the post-communist Romania of 1997. The cast included some of the best Romanian actors of the day: Dan Condurache, Dorel Vișan, Dragoș Pâslaru, Mircea Diaconu, Marcel Iureș, Tora Vasilescu, Dinu Manolache, Maria Ploaie, Șerban Ionescu, Monica Ghiuță, Mirela Gorea, Mihai Gruia Sandu, Ion Chelaru, Horațiu Mălăiele, and many others.

The film was broadcast on the Romanian National TV station.

Film critics wrote about the film almost a decade later:

“The new vibe brought by “Keep Your Eyes on Happiness” (co-production of National TV Film Studio and Roxy Film Germany) – the coherent narrative, the predilection for subtle humour, the lack of interest for the sordid and the grotesque, a nonconformist attitude without the scent of declarative polemic – positions Alexandru Maftei as a possible forerunner of “the new wave” of filmmakers who, through their participation recognized by numerous awards in important film festivals after 2000, have brought Romanian cinema to the attention of the international public and critics”.

Marian Rădulescu, Liternet, “Have a positive attitude – Fii cu ochii pe fericire”, 2007