'Meciul lui Michael Zwischen' (Michael Zwischen's Match), the latest book by writer Mariana Gorczyca, was launched at the ProEtnica Intercultural Festival, an event that takes place between August 26-30, in the Medieval Fortress of Sighisoara.

The book, with an afterword by Radu Paraschivescu, is illustrated in an original manner, through a series of black and white drawings made by Beatrice Ungar, present at the event together with writer Doina Giurgiu.

Gorczyca explained that the story of the volume is built in a mixture of reality and fiction, with the Danube at its centre. The book is essentially about a river, the Danube, par excellence European, along which, according to the author, 'a lot has happened'.

'It's history, it's geography. The countries that the Danube crosses have changed their borders over time. (...) Just here, at the mouth of the Danube, administrations has ve changed so many times,' she said.

Giurgiu said the book is a story worth reading and that is part of a larger whole.

'Before being the surname of a character, whether real or imaginary, Zwischen is a helping word. It is a preposition that binds and unties to a good extent, that is, it releases a new meaning, two other words, two other meanings. (...) Mihai between two existences. (...) To us, at its eastern and final end, the Danube is nobody else's, it is ours, it belongs to us. (...) Like Michael, Michael, ours and theirs is also the Danube, but it can mediate, it can save, it can heal. Maybe it is and is what Michael's German family is trying to do, the Romany child adopted close to the river's source. (...) There is a match in the book that goes beyond the primary meaning of the word. And it is long-lasting,' said Giurgiu.

The drawings made by Beatrice Ungar put a projection next to the story.

'They are a shoulder-to-shoulder meditation with the text, never outlined definitively, so that their stories accompany it,' she added.

Another ProEtnica cultural event was the screening of the documentary film 'Memory of the community - Gheorgheni and Frumoasa', made by Armine Vosganian and dedicated to the Armenian communities of Transylvania.

'This pilot, because it is a first episode of a larger series, a kind of sociological archive of the Armenian diaspora in Romania, focuses on two communities, the community of Frumoasa and Gheorgheni. The community of Frumoasa is represented in our documentary by the oldest and only Armenian speaker at the time from Harghita. I say at the time, because, shortly after filming, he was already 100 years old, he unfortunately died. (...) The community in Transylvania and in my film dates back to approximately the 17th century. (...) This year we chose this medium-length film that was also nominated, in 2022, for the best documentary film section,' Vosganian told AGERPRES.

This year's edition of the ProEtnica Intercultural Festival, organised August 26-30 in the Medieval Fortress of Sighisoara, has a special significance: it marks 25 years since the first edition of the festival, held in 2001.

ProEtnica 2026 takes place under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and under the patronage of the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Romania, H.E. Angela Ganninger.

The festival is organised by the Interethnic Educational Centre for Youth Sighisoara (ibz), in partnership with the Department for Interethnic Relations of the Romanian Government - the main partner of the project - with the Mures County Council, through the Mures County Centre for Traditional Culture and Artistic Education Mures, the National Agency for Roma and the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The participating national minority organisations have an essential role in the design and implementation of the festival. AGERPRES is a media partner of the festival. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Catalina Matei; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)