4th edition of the Romanian Film Festival: celebrating Romanian cinema in Washington D.C.

The 4th edition of the Romanian Film Festival (RFF) is making its highly anticipated return on November 2, 2023. The festival proudly embraces the established theme of “Reinventing Realism — New Cinema from Romania.”

Renowned as the most significant Romanian cultural film celebration in the United States, RFF 2023 promises to spotlight the captivating and diverse creative endeavors of Romanian cinema, which has solidified its presence on the global arthouse stage. Curated by the Romanian film critic Mihai Fulger, the festival will span four consecutive days and present six of the most thought-provoking productions.

As a testament to the festival’s international significance, Romanian directors, actors, and film critics will journey across the Atlantic to personally introduce their films and engage with American cinephiles. RFF 2023 stands as a celebration of Romanian talent, aligning with the overarching theme of the Romanian Embassy’s activities this year.

This cinematic event is made possible through the collaborative efforts of the Embassy of Romania to the United States and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. Complete details about the event are available here.

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What’s on the Romanian Film Festival

The largest event promoting national cinema in North America kicks off on Thursday, November 2nd, with the film “Freedom,” directed by Tudor Giurgiu, making its U.S. premiere shortly after its release in Romania. Inspired by real events that occurred in Sibiu during the December 1989 Revolution, “Freedom” has been selected for several international festivals taking place in Europe and the United States in the near future. As a special guest of the festival, Tudor Giurgiu will engage in a post-screening Q&A session with the audience, moderated by film critic Mihai Fulger, the festival’s curator.

As a world premiere, “Other Two Lottery Tickets,” the sequel to the successful comedy “Two Lottery Tickets” (2016), directed by Paul Negoescu, reunites Sile, Dinel, and Pompiliu on screen once more as they hope for another stroke of rapid fortune. By the end, viewers will rightfully wonder whether the three are lucky or extraordinarily unlucky.

The debut film from director Mihai Mincan, “To The North,” will keep the audience on the edge of their seats with a suspenseful story that captures a part of the human exodus after 1990 from the eastern European countries. Actor Niko Becker will answer questions from the audience at the end.

Director Andrei Tănase also joins to satisfy the audience’s curiosity after the screening of his debut film, “Day of the Tiger,” a story inspired by a real event: the 2011 escape of a tiger from the zoo in Sibiu. However, the tiger’s escape is only a pretext to present the story of Vera, a veterinarian tormented by personal problems, who has a nervous breakdown. “I like it when drama is deflated through humor,” Tănase succinctly says about his film.

The festival concludes with two other impactful films: “Boss,” directed by Bogdan Mirică, and “Good People,” by Paul Negoescu. In “Boss,” the main character, a nighttime ambulance driver and an armed robber in his free time, is overcome by the fear of getting caught. In “Good People,” we meet a rural policeman who believes he must bring justice to a series of unfortunate events that force him to make crucial decisions.