The European Film Festival (EFF), now in its 30th edition and the most extensive to date, brings screenings to 13 cities across the country, where the Europe Day is celebrated with 'cinema without borders.'

In Botosani, Iasi and Braila, 20 screenings have already taken place, drawing 1,100 spectators.

Film screenings will also be held in Bucharest, Brasov, Timisoara, Curtea de Arges, Arad, Bistrita, Targu Mures, Chitila, Targu Jiu and Tulcea.

'Over the past 30 years, the European Film Festival has been building, film by film, a shared space for encounter which has expanded ever further, to the point of a 'cinema without borders'. Drawing on the symbolism of the Europe Day, an invitation to reflect on the privilege of living in an open society, the festival initiated by the European Commission and taken over with strong commitment by the ICR [Romanian Cultural Institute] has developed from a collection of films illustrating European values into a true 'festival selection', curated to offer both affinities and differences, common themes, openings towards dialogue and understanding of what binds us as societies and as people. I am proud of this transformation, of the partnerships and all the successive teams who, over these three decades that amount to a lifetime, have brought the festival to this point. Europe is truly united in diversity, its cultural creativity and vitality are inexhaustible, and its cinema gives us every reason to realise that being different is a resource, not an obstacle,' ICR President Liviu Jicman told a news conference on Tuesday, according to an organisers' release.

The Bucharest edition will begin on Wednesday at the Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR) with the film called 'Better Go Mad in the Wild' (2025, directed by Miro Remo).

The tradition of involving honorary ambassadors of the EFF in explaining and promoting European cinema continues this year with two participants: Ada Solomon, renowned Romanian film producer of national and European-international co-productions and chair of the Board of the European Film Academy, and Igor Cobileanski, an established director from the Republic of Moldova whose works are representative of the shared creative and artistic space on both banks of the Pruth.

The selection for the 30th edition of the EFF, coordinated by artistic director Catalin Olaru, was put together by the Romanian Cultural Institute in cooperation with the embassies, institutes and cultural centres of EU member states.

'It is an anniversary edition, so we are taking stock. We are bringing together the most relevant European films, both award-winning and overlooked ones. At the same time, we are looking at the steps we ourselves have taken, Romanians, therefore Balkan, but no less European. Through the collaboration with the UNATC [National University of Theatre and Film 'IL Caragiale'] and the short film strands called '30 years later', we discover a Romania that has changed in often unpredictable ways. The short films of the 1996 generation deserve to be rediscovered, just as much as the works of today's young filmmakers deserve recognition. At the 30th edition of the EFF, new and old voices are heard,' Catalin Olaru said.

The European Film Festival is organised by the ICR, with the support of the European Commission Representation in Romania and the European Union National Institute for Culture (EUNIC) Romania, in partnership with the Romanian Filmmakers Association (UCIN), as well as European embassies, cultural centres and institutes. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Popescu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)