The Romanian Film Festival in Munich, the largest Romanian film festival organised outside the country's borders, is celebrating its 20th edition this year. The festival will take place from November 5 to 14, 2026, at the Munich Film Museum, according to a press release issued by the Consulate General of Romania in Munich.

The festival will showcase a selection of Romanian film productions, with film directors, actors and other film industry professionals in attendance.

Organised by GeFoRum - the Association for the Promotion of Romanian Culture and Traditions ('Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Rumanischen Kultur und Tradition e. V.') - the festival is one of the longest-running and most substantial initiatives promoting Romanian cinema abroad. Its two decades of existence have coincided with the international rise of the Romanian New Wave, whose films have won some of the most prestigious awards in world cinema.

The anniversary edition will open on Thursday, November 5, with the film 'The Yellow Tie'/'Cravata galbena', which explores the life and career of the renowned Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache, portrayed by American actor John Malkovich. The screening holds particular significance for Munich, the city where Celibidache spent more than two decades of his career as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Director Serge Ioan Celibidache, the renowned musician's son, and German actor Robert Dolle will attend the opening.

The anniversary programme offers a journey through contemporary Romanian cinema, ranging from historical and social dramas to comedies, auteur films and productions aimed at younger audiences. It explores themes such as the memory of the communist past, migration, family relationships, identity and cultural diversity.

Recent Romanian films to be screened include 'Dinti de lapte'/'Milk Teeth', 'Y', 'Atlasul Universului'/'Atlas of the Universe', 'De capul nostru'/'On Our Own', 'Nu ma lasa sa mor'/'Don't Let Me Die', 'Interfon', 'Jurnalul unei cameriste'/'Diary of a Chambermaid' and 'Catane', alongside productions from the Republic of Moldova, 'Cercul'/'The Circle' and 'Hotarul'/'The Border'. The screenings will be accompanied by meetings with director Paul Negoescu, cinematographer Ana Draghici, and filmmakers Maria Popistasu and Alexandru Baciu. The festival will close on November 14 with ‘Kizim', presented by director Radu Potcoava, followed by the Audience Award ceremony.

The Romanian Film Festival in Munich is part of the broader Romanian Cultural Days, taking place from November 3 to 20 under the patronage of Romania's Consul General in Munich, Miheia-Malina Diculescu-Blebea.

The official opening of the Romanian Cultural Days will take place on November 3 at the headquarters of the Consulate General of Romania in Munich. The event, dedicated to Romania's historical, cultural and ethnic diversity, will bring together art historian Heinke Fabritius, PhD, Florian Kuhrer-Wielach, PhD, director of the Institute for German Culture and History of South-Eastern Europe (IKGS), and Dan Ciudin, president of the German-Romanian Cultural Association ‘Apozitia'.

The programme will include the photographic exhibition ‘Ethnic Communities in Romania', presented by Paula Ciupag, and a musical performance by violinist Sergej Preissler and pianist Nadja Preissler. The evening will be moderated by Brigitte Drodtloff, president of GeFoRum.

The Romanian Cultural Days will conclude on November 20 at Haus des Deutschen Ostens (House of the German East) in Munich with a literary evening dedicated to the theme ‘Diversity as Lived and Reflected in Literature from and about Romania'.

The programme will explore how the coexistence of different ethnic communities, migration and collective memory are reflected in contemporary literature. The event will feature a reading by writer Sigrid Katharina Eismann, a lecture by Eniko Dacz, PhD, deputy director of the IKGS, and an exploration of the history and collective memory of the Transylvanian Saxon community, alongside Kerstin Arz, director of the Kulturwerk der Siebenburger Sachsen (Cultural Centre of the Transylvanian Saxons).

'Twenty editions of the largest Romanian film festival outside the country represent a remarkable cultural achievement and demonstrate the sustained interest in Romanian cinema in Germany. Through this festival, Munich has become a landmark for the promotion of Romanian films abroad. This is the achievement of people who have built a lasting cultural project through perseverance and passion, as well as of the partnerships that have ensured its continuity. For us, supporting this initiative is a natural expression of the role culture plays in bringing Romania and Bavaria closer together,' Romania's Consul General in Munich said on the occasion.

The Consulate General of Romania in Munich has supported the festival since its early days, alongside the Munich City Council and the Film Museum. The anniversary edition is also receiving funding from the Bavarian State Chancellery and support from the Romanian Cultural Institute 'Titu Maiorescu' in Berlin.

The involvement of Bavarian institutions at this level highlights the importance the event has acquired within the local cultural landscape and its contribution to strengthening direct ties between Romania and Bavaria.

The Romanian Cultural Days programme is also being organised in cooperation with a number of German cultural and academic institutions and organisations, including Haus des Deutschen Ostens (House of the German East), the IKGS, Kulturwerk Banater Schwaben (Cultural Centre of the Banat Swabians) and Kulturwerk der Siebenburger Sachsen (Cultural Centre of the Transylvanian Saxons). AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Codrut Balu: EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)