Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, twice winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes for his films 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) and Fjord (2026), has spoken about the problems plaguing the Romanian film industry and called for its restructuring.
In a public address the director revisited what he considers to be the “ten major problems” facing the Romanian film industry.
He focused particularly on the lack of finance for the Film Fund. According to him, rechannelling the 4% gambling tax to this Fund would help finance domestic production. “All it would take,” he explained, “is for the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture to issue a formal decree.”
The director’s other major concern is the limited number of cinemas in the country. “Currently only 50 to 55 towns have multiplexes or independent cinemas, meaning that most towns have no possibility of organising public screenings.” FNE points out that Romania has 318 towns, 103 of which are municipalities. Only 17% of them have a cinema.
On June 13th his film Fjord had a preview premiere in 96 cinemas across 53 Romanian towns, attracting a record 43,440 admissions.
Source: FNE
