Mara Bugarin on GROWTH

Mara Bugarin is a young actress from Timișoara, currently based in Bucharest. Her beginnings are closely tied to the German State Theatre of Timișoara, where she started collaborating at the age of ten. She already has significant film experience, having played major roles in “Metronom” (dir. Alexandru Belc) and “Moromeții 3” (dir. Stere Gulea), for which she was nominated twice at the Gopo Awards. She has also appeared in numerous short films, working with both local and international directors. Next year will mark the premiere of the German-Belgian feature film “Nukki” (dir. Leonardo Carglino), in which she plays the leading female role. A graduate of the Faculty of Theatre Directing, her graduation performance “Little Light” toured and received awards at several youth theatre festivals across Romania. She is part of the resident acting company at Teatrul Masca, where she has collaborated on diverse projects with directors such as Bobi Pricop, Carmen Lidia Vidu, and Catinca Drăgănescu. Starting this summer, Mara joined the “Restart” project initiated by the Political Theatre Platform, believing in a form of art that is both socially and politically conscious — one that responds to the real needs of the world we live in while remaining aesthetically relevant. She has volunteered, worked with marginalized communities, and believes that cinema has the power to stop time — to create its own universe, shared for a few hours with strangers who, for that brief moment, become part of the same community.