The French Film Festival, in 13 cities in our country

The cultural ties between Romania and France remain very close. The French Institute in Romania is organizing, in the year of its centenary, the 28th edition of the French Film Festival. The festival will take place between March 21 and 31 in Bucharest and in 12 other cities in the country: Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Arad, Brasov, Brăila, Constanta, Craiova, Sfântu Gheorghe, Sibiu, Suceava and Târgu Mureş. The general theme of the festival this year is "Vertiges - vertigo and its variations in cinema". Julien Chiappone-Lucchesi, the general director of the French Institute in Romania, said: "The 27 films from the festival will be screened in our cinema, Elvire Popesco, and, depending on the programming possibilities, in twelve other cities in Romania, thanks to our extraordinary partners. In the year of our centenary, we are renewing ourselves and offering the Romanian public, in all its diversity, all the reasons to continue following us, as it has done, faithfully, since the beginning of the festival. Moreover, I would I would like to emphasize that this year the festival is consolidating its industry section dedicated to professionals in the field". One of the novelties of the festival is the "Mauvais genres" section, which includes a selection of French genre films (films de genre). During it, the public will be able to watch "Vincent doit mourir" by Stephan Castang, as well as the sci-fi animated film "Mars Express" by Jeremie Perin. Also, the festival hosts, for the first time, a session of films in virtual reality, organized in partnership with CINETic. The public is invited to immerse themselves in the universe created by five films that offer a variety of experiences in terms of theme, format and degree of interactivity. The films in the VR program are recommended for audiences over 12 years of age. In addition to the novelties of this edition, the festival also maintains its traditional sections: "Panorama of the films of the year", "Competition of young talents - feature film" and "Competition of young talents - short film".

The "Panorama" section will present the most important recent French titles, films that have enjoyed great success with the public and critics - "Le Regne Animal" by Thomas Cailley, "Une Annee Difficile" by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, or "La Bête", the new film by Bertrand Bonello. The competition of young talents - feature film highlights, as every year, the debut films of young directors. They enter the race for the Public Prize, a scholarship of 1,000 euros offered by the French Institute in Romania. This edition's competition includes: "Rien a perdre", by Delphine Deloget, "Chien de la Casse" directed by Jean-Baptiste Durand, "Paula" directed by Angela Ottobah and "Ama Gloria" signed by Marie Amachoukeli. According to the organizers, the competition of young talents - short film presents to the Romanian public five films by young filmmakers who won the hearts of the audiences of festivals in France. A jury of young film critics will select the winner of the competition. The prize consists of a stay at the Residence de Poche of the French Institute in Romania in Bucharest - an ideal setting in which the winning filmmaker will be able to develop a feature film project. The French Film Festival is organized by the French Institute in Romania in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi and Timisoara and co-organized by: Arad Municipal Culture Center, Braşov French Alliance, Cinefeel Brăila, "Jean Constantin" Multifunctional Educational Center for Youth Constanţa, Inspire Cinema Craiova, Arta by Cityplex Sfântu Gheorghe, the National Theater "Radu Stanca" Sibiu, the French Alliance Suceava, the Mureş County Museum and the Mureş County Council.