Rebengiuc also appeared in his first major television production, "Tandreţea lăcustelor", adapted by Dan Necşulea from a screenplay by Eugene Pretorian, and aired by TVR 1 in 2003. It depicted the lives of people made rich and powerful by the Revolution, who invest their energies in undermining each other's positions. The same year, he again collaborated with Pintilie, starring opposite Răzvan Vasilescu and "Niki and Flo", impersonating Colonel Niki Ardelean. His character, whom Rebengiuc himself describes as "a modest man, but one who knows his own value", is exasperated by Flo's continuous intrusion into his life, and eventually turns to murder. He describes this part as the most straightforward of his film characters, and indicates that working with screenwriter Cristi Puiu impressed him. In 2004, he and Puiu collaborated on the short film "Cigarettes and Coffee", which received the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Rebengiuc, who portrayed one of three characters (The Father), describes feeling "pleased" by the collaboration, and having to work with "one of the best" texts. This performance also earned him prizes at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca and the Anonimul Film Festival in the Danube Delta.