ROMANIA / An earthquake building law threatens cinemas

Several Romanian cinemas are threatened with closure after a new earthquake construction law was passed by Klaus Iohannis’ government on November 17th. Under this law, public meetings are forbidden in buildings which were not built to withstand earthquakes.

Several cultural establishments are concerned, including cinemas in the heart of Bucharest – for example Cinema Pro, the Scala Cinema and Cinema Patria. Some, like the Cinema Studio which houses the Romanian directors union (UCIN), will start work on renovations, while other cinemas, lacking the means to comply, will have to close down.

Several cinema personalities showed their dissatisfaction with the government. The director Cristian Mungiu, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2007 for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”, wrote an open letter to the Minister of Culture, specifically criticizing the lack of solutions to rehouse the cinemas.

Sources : Cineuropa, Film New Europe, Gandûl