The capital hosts the European Film Festival

Movie lovers have a new reason to rejoice. The 28th edition of the European Film Festival (FFE) will debut in Bucharest on Europe Day, on May 9, and will end in Chisinau on June 8, during the weekend of the European Parliament elections, the Romanian Cultural Institute announces. According to an ICR this year, FFE proposes a generous program of 40 feature films - 34 in national premiere - and two selections of short films. Of these, 16 films are directed by women and two - co-directed by women. The president of ICR, Liviu Jicman, vice-president of EUNIC - European Union National Institutes for Culture, said: "Together with our European partners, we invite you to come to the European Film Festival, to see films that help us better understand the era in which we live or which, on the contrary, make us forget it for two hours. We continue the tradition of previous editions of stopping in cities where the European film does not reach easily, but the novelty is that we have included Chisinau on the 2024 map. It is our way of to celebrate the fact that the European Union decided, in December 2023, to open accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova and to pay tribute to its European path, with the prospect of being with Romania again, as member states of the Union". According to the artistic director of FFE, Cătălin Olaru, the 2024 edition marks 35 years since the Revolution with films that talk about "earned rights": "Perhaps most importantly, we enjoy freedom of movement, the very premise of the Austrian documentary "I'm going tomorrow" , filmed mainly in Romania. «The Rye Horn», the winner of the San Sebastian Festival, evokes the freedom to dispose of our bodies as we want. Finally, «Direct Action», the great winner of the Encounters section at the Berlinale, it is a monument dedicated to freedom of expression and protest". Other productions that will be presented are "Blaga's Lessons", the winner of the grand prize at the Karlovy Vary Festival, and "Plouă în casa"/"Il pleut dans la maison", presented for the first time in the Semaine section of critique at the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The European Film Festival is organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute, with the support of the European Commission Representation in Romania and EUNIC Romania, in partnership with UCIN, embassies, centers and European cultural institutes.

In Bucharest, the Festival takes place between May 9 - 15, at Sala Luceafărul (Opening Gala on May 9), Cinema Elvire Popesco and Cinema Union (May 10 - 15) and Cinemateca Eforie (May 11 - 12). The program will continue as follows: Botoşani: May 10 - 12, Cinema Unirea; Târgu Mureş: May 16 - 18, Mureş County Museum - History Section (Citadel), Multimedia Hall; Sibiu: May 17 - 19, Gala - Sibiu State Philharmonic, Thalia Hall, Democratic Forum of Germans in Sibiu, Hall of Mirrors; Chitila: May 17 - 19, Valea Mangului Park; Curtea de Argeş: May 18 - 19, La Conac; Braşov: May 24 - 26, Reduta Cultural Center; Chisinau: June 6 - 8, Odeon Cinema. In Bucharest, tickets can be purchased online on the Eventbook.ro platform and directly from cinemas, and in the rest of the cities access is free.