Life moves slowly in a Romanian mountain village, shaped by care and the seasons

But the Flowers Remain documents the rhythms of daily life for one family in a secluded mountain village in Romania. The project emerged while the German filmmakers Joscha Kotlan and Maximilian Ihlenburg were working nearby, on an upcoming feature documentary about the toll of logging in the Carpathian Mountains, home to some of the world’s largest and oldest beech forests. Invited by the villagers to the Domogled-Valea Cernei National Park, the filmmakers captured their everyday moments and assembled them into a quiet, observational film. As winter nears, the family chop wood, tend to their animals and prepare food from what they raise and grow. They prefer this tight-knit and self-sufficient lifestyle, even as friends and family have migrated to cities, and their days are characterised by steady work and a close connection to the land. The film honours how such a ‘time capsule’ endures in this small corner of the world.