30/11/2022 - Penned by director Paul Negoescu, the sequel follows the three protagonists as they navigate the tricky world of cryptocurrency

Dragos Bucur, Paul Negoescu, Dorian Boguţă and Alexandru Papadopol celebrating the wrap of the shoot

Even before local superhits such as Miami Bici [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see the news) and Teambuilding (see the news), Romanian director Paul Negoescu’s Two Lottery Tickets [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile] (2016) proved that a small-budget, independent comedy could captivate the local audience. At the end of October, Negoescu wrapped production on the sequel, Another Lottery Ticket [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The film is being staged by 2DB Studio, a production company owned by Dragoş Bucur and Dorian Boguţă, with both its budget and the complete list of co-production partners being a work in progress for now.

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Whereas in the first film, we watched Sile (Bucur), Pompiliu (Alexandru Papadopol) and Dinel (Boguţă) win the lottery and then lose their precious tickets, now the three protagonists try a new method to get rich quick: cryptocurrency mining. And lo and behold, they manage it! But then they misplace the USB drive where they keep their digital fortune and embark on a quest to recover it.

The shoot began at the end of September and ended one month later. The main locations were Bucharest, and the cities of Craiova, Slatina, Ploieşti and Giurgiu. Ana Drăghici, who also shot the first film, is the DoP. Ilona Brezoianu, Eduard Cîrlan and Iulian Postelnicu (the latter having won several acting trophies for Negoescu’s latest film, Men of Deeds [+see also:
film review
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile]) play supporting characters.

Although he has said in several interviews that the production of the first film was extremely difficult and that he would like an eventual sequel to have a more accommodating, hopefully state-supported budget, Negoescu later changed his mind and did not submit the screenplay during the project competitions organised by the Romanian National Film Center. “The centre should finance only arthouse, experimental productions, documentaries and animations that are not expected to recover their production budget from earnings, while a commercial feature should find financial support from private sources,” Negoescu tells Cineuropa.

Given that sequels either use the same formula as the original film or, much less often, completely change tack, risking alienating the fans of the franchise, we asked Negoescu which direction he had opted for with the sequel. “My purpose was the same: to make a film that earns back its production costs without compromising. I want it to be an honest sequel: if a viewer watches both the original and the sequel, I don’t want him or her either to think that it’s the same film or to think they are completely different films,” he explains.

The sequel will be released domestically in 2023.