The 30th edition of the European Film Festival (FFE) will take place from Thursday until June 1 in 12 cities across the country and in the capital city Bucharest, with film producer Ada Solomon and filmmaker Igor Cobileanski serving as honorary ambassadors.

The President of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), Liviu Jicman, told a press conference that this year's edition of the festival will be held in a record number of local editions.

'This is an anniversary edition of the European Film Festival. We've been making this festival for 30 years, during the course of a whole generation we could say. And we also have another tradition already that we launched in 2006, that of having an honorary ambassador for each edition, a young director. This constellation of young directors has meanwhile become a group of established filmmakers, highly appreciated and with numerous international awards,' said Liviu Jicman at the opening of the conference.

This anniversary edition will have two honorary ambassadors.

'They will be Ada Solomon, a film producer and currently Chair of the Board of the European Film Academy (EFA), and Igor Cobileanski, who created the promotional clip for this edition, a director who is likewise highly regarded, consecrated, I would say, with many productions to his name, international visibility and a significant audience in Romania and the Republic of Moldova,' Liviu Jicman added.

He stated that the mission of the ICR 'is to contribute to or to create international cultural relations' and expressed his belief that 'the European Film Festival already contributes to this'.

In her turn, film producer Ada Solomon underscored that cinema is important today and has the extraordinary ability to bring people together.

'It is very important to keep the flag flying and to continue to understand how important cinema is, how powerful film is today, and how much we need this means of conveying and sharing emotions and points of view. (...) We are living in complex times, when we need more than ever to stay together and to hear one another. Fortunately, cinema has this extraordinary quality of bringing us together,' said Ada Solomon.

The producer added that the priority is to bring people back into cinemas and into genuine debate through the emotions and stories told on screen.

Director Igor Cobileanski pointed out that the organisation of the festival aims to familiarise Romanian audiences with European productions.

'What seems most important to me in all this is the fact that cities across the country are involved in this event - not just Bucharest, which is perhaps somewhat privileged in terms of access to cinema and film. The fact that the festival also travels to other cities adds value and contributes to the education of a generation or simply fuels the curiosity of film enthusiasts outside the capital, who certainly also need such events. So, in a way, this seems extremely important to me,' Cobileanski emphasised.

Film critic Catalin Olaru, artistic director and selector of the European Film Festival, explained that the theme '30 years of cinema without borders' in fact means cinema without compromises, without inhibitions and, of course, without censorship.

'The theme of this edition is ‘30 years of cinema without borders'. Cinema without borders means cinema free of compromises, inhibitions, and, obviously, censorship, but also self-censorship, because ultimately cinema is a world that continues to discover itself while also reinventing itself. And speaking of this reinvention, we favour films that do not shy away from emotion, bold films, films that break the mould, even films that question the very definition we all accept of what a film actually is,' explained Catalin Olaru.

In Bucharest, audiences will be able to watch both 'short films from 1996' and recent and very recent works by students from the National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC), he added. Screenings at the first local editions, in Botosani, Iasi and Braila, 'offer something for all viewers'.

The European Film Festival is organised annually by the Romanian Cultural Institute under the aegis of EUNIC Romania, in partnership with the Representation of the European Commission in Romania, with the support of European embassies and cultural institutes in Romania and of UCIN. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN- writing by: Cristina Zaharia)