The 28th edition of the European Film Festival will debut in Bucharest on Europe Day itself! – The Metropolis newspaper

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, May 9), Cinema Elvire Popesco and Cinema Union (May 10 – 15) and Cinemateca Eforie (May 11 – 12).

The program will continue as follows: Botoșani: 10 – 12 MayUnirea Cinema; Târgu Mureș: 16 – 18 MayMureș 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: 17 – 19 MayValea Mangluui Park; Curtea de Argeș: 18 – 19 MayAt the Manor; Brașov: May 24 – 26Reduta Cultural Center; Chisinau: June 6 – 8Odeon Cinema.

“When weapons speak, the muses are silent, Cicero said two thousand years ago. We propose not to be discouraged by the dense period we are going through and to encourage the muses to express themselves. Go to exhibitions, to the theater, to concerts, to the movies! 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 we live in, or that, on the contrary, make us forget it for two hours. We continue the tradition of previous editions of stopping in cities where European film does not reach easily, but the novelty is that we have also included Chisinau on the 2024 map of the festival. It is our way of celebrating 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 of the Union.” said Liviu Jicman, president of ICR, vice-president of EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture).

This year, FFE proposes a generous program of 40 feature films (34 in national premiere) and 2 selections of short films of which 16 films are directed by women and 2 films – co-directed by women.

“We mark 35 years since the Revolution with films that talk about the rights won.

Perhaps most importantly, we enjoy freedom of movement, the very premise of the Austrian documentary I’m going tomorrowfilmed mainly in Romania. The Rye Horn / The Rye Horn, winner of the grand prize at the San Sebastian festival, evokes the freedom to dispose of our bodies as we wish. Finally, Direct Action / Direct Actionthe big winner of the Berlinale’s Encounters section, is a monument to freedom of expression and protest.

However, this does not eliminate the prospect of abuses, as we learn from Blaga’s Lessons / Blaga’s Lessonsthe winner of the grand prize at the Karlovy Vary festival, or the inequities that underlie it It’s raining in the house / Il pleut dans la maison, premiered in the Semaine de la critique section at the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. But let’s remember the reasons for joy: we are free to choose what content we consume, free to express ourselves as we see fit in relation to them, free to dream.

And the 2024 edition of the European Film Festival confirms an undeniable reality and at the same time a luxury, one that may seem minor, but no less a luxury, if we look at it in contrast to the past: we have free time at the movies!”said Cătălin Olaru, artistic director of FFE.

The full schedule will be announced soon. 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.