From 30 November – 4 December, the 20th edition of the Romanian Film Festival 290th Edition will unfold in London. The projections will take place at the prestigious Curzon cinema in Soho, and each screening will be followed by a Q&A session with well-known actors and directors, whose films are part of the festival. They include Tudor Giurgiu, Vlad Ivanov, Sebastian Mihăilescu, Bogdan Mirica, Corneliu Porumboiu and Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu.
The programme includes ten remarkable screenings, which have received glowing reviews and which bring to the fore some recent films which highlight the new wave of the Romanian cinematography.
The festival kicks off with the feature film FAMILIAR (2023) directed by Calin Peter Netzer and shown for the first time in the UK. The main character is Dragos, a young Romanian film director, who confronts his traumatic past and decides to make a film about his childhood trauma.
Thurday, 30 November 2023, 6pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: Familiar Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
The screening will be followed by a Q & A session with actor Vlad Ivanov.
MAMMALIA (2023) directed by Sebastian Mihăilescu
Camil is a 39-year-old man on the cusp of losing his mind after he discovers the strange rituals of the community around him. MAMMALIA is the debut feature film for director Sebastian Mihăilescu, first presented at the Berlin Film Festival. The director will take questions from the audience after the screening.
Friday, 1 December 2023, 6pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: Mammalia Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
R.M.N. (2022) directed by Cristian Mungiu
The Transylvanian town of Recia (Récfalva in Hungarian) appears to be the very model of social inclusion. Romanians, Hungarians, Germans and Roma all live side by side in what seems like perfect harmony. But when a local bakery employs Sri Lankans to make up for a lack of interest from local workers, prejudices and petty recriminations surface, which gradually tear the community apart.
Friday, 1 December, 8:50pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: R.M.N. Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (2007) directed by Cristian Mungiu
Otilla’s friend Gabita is pregnant. She doesn’t want the baby. However, abortion is illegal in Ceaușescu’s Romania. So, Otilla arranges for a backstreet procedure. But by crossing that legal boundary the young women risk arrest, and place themselves at the mercy of black marketeers and individuals who operate in a moral vacuum.
Intro from director Cristian Mungiu and Q&A with actor Vlad Ivanov. The film is screening from a 35mm print.
Saturday, 2 December, 2pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (35mm) Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
BOSS (2022) directed by Bogdan Mirică
Bogdan is an ambulance driver in Bucharest, portrayed as grey and poor. He takes part in an armed robbery alongside three other men, he barely knows.
The screening will be followed by a Q & A session with director Bogdan Mirică and producer Corneliu Porumboiu.
Saturday, 2 December 2023, 5:20pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: Boss Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
OCCASIONAL SPIES (2021) directed by Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu
In the spring of 1944, the fate of many Allied pilots who fell in Eastern Europe was unknown. The MI9 office in Cairo decides to recruit agents from among the Zionists who had emigrated from these countries to Palestine before the war. Their mission? Find the prisoners and organize an escape.
The screening will be followed by a Q & A session with director Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu
Sunday, 3 December 2023, 2pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: Occasional Spies Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (2021) directed by Vladimir Dembinski
In Transylvania, Emma, Jacob’s daughter, lives with his father in a rigid atmosphere. Her mother disappeared a few years ago but Emma did not give up hope that she would return at some point.
TWO WORDS, THREE LIES (2022) directed by Ioachim Stroe
A team of policemen are filming the re-enactment of a murder. The main character is one of the two defendants. Things start to get shady when defendant's statement turns out to be different from what seems to have really happened
BETWEEN REVOLUTIONS (2023) directed by Vlad Petri
In the 1970s Bucharest, Zahra and Maria strike up a close friendship while studying at university. As political turmoil brews in Iran, Zahra is forced to return home, leaving Maria behind. Over the next decade, they maintain their connection through a series of letters, chronicling their struggles as women fighting for a voice and their respective countries moving in divergent directions. Despite the distance and obstacles, their longing for each other remains strong.
The screening will be preceded by an introduction by actor Vlad Ivanov.
Sunday, 3 December 2023, 5:10pm
Tickets:RFF 2023: Shorts Programme Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
The festival will close with FREEDOM directed by Tudor Giurgiu (2023). The Romanian Revolution of 1989 has led to chaos, and against this background we see the Army, the Police and the Securitate – the secret police of the dictator – competing to control the narrative as communism reaches its end.
Followed by Q&A with director Tudor Giurgiu
Monday, 4 December 2023, 6pm
Tickets: RFF 2023: Libertate Cinema Tickets & Film Showtimes - Curzon
The Romanian Film Festival in London is the initiative of Profusion International in partnership with Curzon Cinemas. The festival it’s being organised with the support of The Romanian Cultural Institute in London, the Romanian Embassy in London, Departamentului Românilor de Pretutindeni, Cultural Foundation Prodan, Sir George Iacobescu, Remus Robu Solicitors,Convorbiri Românești magazine and of translationromanian.co.uk platform.The Romanian Film Festival in London was founded in 2003 by Ramona Mitrică and Profusion International.
When:30 November – 4 December, 2023
Where: Curzon cinema, Soho
