21-01-2019

FNE Market Analysis 2018: ROMANIA

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    Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time by Stere Gulea Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time by Stere Gulea

    The most important development in the Romanian film industry in 2018 is the cash rebate scheme launched by the National Commission for Prognosis on 8 October 2018. A total of 41 international and national projects applied for rebates by the end of 2018.

    As the Film Fund increased, more funding was available for the call organised by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC). In 2018 the Romanian Film Centre prepared a new film draft aimed at boosting support and visibility for the film industry.

    The CNC allotted more money for minority coproductions, despite the fact that a special category for minority coproductions is expected to be established by the new Film Law.

    Following the trend, which has already lasted for almost 18 years now, Romanian films continued receiving awards at international festivals. The most important recognitions for Romanian cinema in 2018 are the Golden Bear and the GWFF Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale for Adina Pintilie’s Touch Me Not. In July 2018 "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" / "Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari" by Radu Jude won the Crystal Globe for best film at the 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF and it became Romania’s bid for the Oscars.

    Ioana Uricaru was awarded best director for Lemonade in August 2018 at the Sarajevo Film Festival, while Love 1: Dog / Dragoste 1: Câine by Florin Șerban, produced by Fantascope and also supported by the Romanian Film Centre, received two awards from the festival’s partners. Ioana Uricaru was also nominated for the 2019 Independent Spirit Awards in the Someone to Watch category.

    Touch Me Not by Adina PintilieIn October 2018 Anca Damian was awarded best director at the 34th Warsaw IFF for Moon Hotel Kabul.

    The domestic film of the year is Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time / Moromeții 2 by Stere Gulea, which became the most successful Romanian film in the last 16 years. The film’s ranked 34th in the general box office with 184,951 admissions and 529,339 EUR / 2,475,122 RON gross.

    Sadly, Lucian Pintilie, the most important Romanian film director and the godfather of the New Romanian Cinema, died at age 84 on 16 May 2018.

    PRODUCTION

    Most of the films produced in 2018 were supported by the Romanian Film Centre.

    Cristi Puiu shot his new feature film Manor House / La conac in 2018. The film was produced by Mandragora in coproduction with Serbia’s Sense Production, and it was supported by both the Romanian Film Centre and Film Center Serbia.

    Corneliu Porumboiu shot Gomera in Romania and Spain in February-April 2018. This Romanian/French/German coproduction stars Vlad Ivanov and has already been acquired by MK2 Films. The first film that Porumboiu shot outside Romania is a coproduction between 42 KM FILM (Romania), Les Films du Worso (France), Komplizen Film (Germany) and Arte Grand Accord.

    Cătălin Mitulescu, who won the Palm d’or for his short film Traffic / Trafic in 2004, shot his fourth feature film Heidi in 2018. He is producing it through Strada Film.

    I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians by Radu Jude, photo: Silviu GhetieTudor Giurgiu shot his first feature film abroad, in Spain. The love story Parking is a Romanian/Spanish/Czech coproduction between his company Libra Film, Spain’s Tito Clint Movies and Evolution Films from the Czech Republic.

    In October-November 2018, writer/director Marian Crișan shot his fourth feature film Berliner with Moldavian DoP Oleg Mutu, who also shot Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Beyond the Hills (Mobra Films). Crișan is producing though his company Rova Film.

    In 2018 Iura Luncaşu shot Do It or Shut Up / Faci sau taci, a comedy he is also producing through Next Spot. His previous comedy Ghinionistul was the Romanian film with the best box office in 2017 (223,840 EUR / 1,007,284 RON gross).

    The most prolific Romanian independent director Dan Chișu shot a new feature film in 2018, The Gendarme / Jandarmul produced by Domestic Film in coproduction with Dakino Production.

    In August 2018 writer/director Ioana Mischie (Fulbright Alumna, Berlinale Talents Alumna) started production on Government of Children, a pioneering transmedia world reuniting a 3D state of the art feature film and an expanded webseries. The project is independently produced by Storyscapes, a Romanian association focusing on transmedia and groundbreaking concepts, and Studioset, a multi-awarded creative studio.

    In September 2018 Andrei Cohn shot his sophomore feature 1983, a drama set in the communist era and produced by Mandragora.

    In December 2018 Tudor Cristian Jurgiu wrapped shooting on his second feature film And They May Be Still Alive Today / Și poate mai trăiesc și azi, a coproduction between Romania’s Libra Film Productions and Greece’s Graal S.A.

    Two debut features shot in 2018 are Monsters / Monștri by Marius Olteanu, a contemporary drama produced by Parada Film in coproduction with Wearebasca, and Legacy / Urma directed by Dorian Boguță and produced by Hai-Hui Entertainment in coproduction with Mandragora and Actoriedefilm.ro. Both Monsters and Legacy are 100% Romanian productions.

    The long documentary Our Special Birthday / Născuți în aprilie by Adrian Pârvu, a Romanian/Ukrainian coproduction between HiFilm Productions and Tato Film, was shot in 2018.

    Ivana Mladenovic shot her sophomore feature Summer Night, Ten Thirty / Noapte de Vară. 10 jumătate, a Romanian/Serbian coproduction between Micro Film and Dunav ’84. The film entered postproduction at the beginning of January 2019 with a few days of shooting left for Lemonade by Ioana Uricaru2019.

    The documentary Whose Dog? / Al cui câine sunt?, directed by Robert Lakatos and produced by Micro Film, started shooting in 2018, but filming will continue in 2019.

    We Are Basca produced two long documentaries, which were shot in 2018: Emigrant Blues: A Road Movie in 2 and 1/2 Chapters by Claudiu Mitcu and Mihai Mincan, coproduced with DeFilm, and The Anniversary by Claudiu Mitcu.

    Among the feature films completed in 2018 are Anca Damian’s Moon Hotel Kabul, a Romanian/French coproduction between Aparte Film and Cinema Defacto (which brought Damian the best director prize at the 2018 Warsaw IFF), and Ana Lungu’s independent feature film One and a Half Prince / Un prinț și jumătate, produced by Mandragora.

    The Romanian minority coproduction Spiral, directed by Cecília Felméri and starring Romanian actor Bogdan Dumitrache, Slovak-Hungarian actress Alexandra Borbély and Hungarian actress Diána Magdolna Kiss, started shooting in May 2018. The film is produced by Hungary’s Inforg - M&M Film in coproduction with Romania’s Hai-Hui Entertainment.

    Another Hungarian/Romanian coproduction shot in 2018 is Eden, directed by Agnes Kocsis and produced by Hungary’s Mythberg Films in coproduction with Romania’s Libra Film and Belgium’s WFE Production.

    SAF, a coproduction between Turkey’s Terminal Film, Germany’s 2Pilots and Romania’s 4 Proof Film was shot in Istanbul in December 2018-January 2019. The director Ali Vatansever used the Romanian DoP Tudor Panduru and the Romanian actress Mihaela Trofimov in a small part.

    Another Romanian minority coproduction shot in 2018 is Son / Sin by Ines Tanović, which is produced by Dokument from Bosnia and Herzegovina in coproduction with Croatia’s Spiritus Movens, Slovenia’s Monoo, Macedonia’s Cut-up, and Romania’s Luna Film.

    Most of the postproduction on Donbass by Sergei Loznitsa, which was awarded best director in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard 2018, took place in Bucharest at Digital Cube. The film is a German/ French/Ukrainian/Dutch/Romanian coproduction with Digital Cube coproducing from Romania. Moldavian Oleg Mutu is lensing and Moldavian-born Bucharest-located actor Valeriu Andriuță is in the cast.

    Son by Ines TanovićAnthony C. Ferrante started shooting his new horror The Last Sharknado in Romania on 19 February 2018. The sequel to Ferrante’s TV movie hit Sharknado stars the same actors as the 2013 film: Ian Zering, Tara Reid, Casandra Scerbo and Vivica Fox. It was serviced by Romania’s Castel Film Studios.

    Also serviced by Castel Film in 2018 are Netflix’s A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, a romantic comedy by John Schultz and a sequel to the holiday film A Christmas Prince, Hallmark’ special Thanksgiving movie called Christmas Princess on Ice, and also Backdraft 2 by Gonzalo López-Gallego, The Princess Switch by Mike Rohl, The Cleansing Hour by Damien LeVeck, Dragonheart 5 (a sequel to Universal’s Dragonheart 4, which was also shot in Romania) and The Hard Way by Keoni Waxman.

    In 2018 the Romanian company Alien Film serviced the French feature film The Silver Forest / La fôret d’argent, directed by Emmanuel Bourdieu and produced by Italique Productions for ARTE. The film was shot on location in Bucharest and in villages around Ploiești.

    DISTRIBUTION

    A total of 193 films were released in cinemas in 2018, of which 23 are domestic films, according to Cinemagia.ro. In 2017 a total of 187 films were theatrically released, including 19 domestic films.

    The most important distributors in Romania, on the basis of first time released feature films are: Vertical Entertainment, Ro-Image 2000, InterComFilm Distribution, Independența Film, Cine Europa, Odeon Cineplex, Forum Film Romania, Transilvania Film, Micro Film, Voodoo Films.

    Other distributors are Bad Unicorn, Macondo, BML Music Entertainment and Clorofilm. Several production companies also have a distribution branch: Mandragora, Parada Film, Zazu Film, Oblique Media Film, Paradox.

    The Story of a Summer Lover by Paul NegoescuUsually big distributors do not release domestic titles, but there are some exceptions. Ro Image 2000 distributed in 2018 the romantic comedy The Story of a Summer Lover / Povestea unui pierde-vară, directed by Paul Negoescu and produced by Papillon Film. The film had 13,861 admissions.

    The creative agency ROLLERCOASTER PR launched as a distributor on the Romanian market on 24 August 2018 with the theatrical release of the domestic documentary Licu, a Romanian Story directed by Ana Dumitrescu and produced by Jules et Films.

    In 2018 a caravan travelled through Romania and the Republic of Moldova celebrating 100 years of Romanian cinema by screening 100 movies in 100 cities in one year. The project put up by the ARTIS Association in the Romanian city of Iași and the MIA Public Association in Chișinău, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, was launched in Iași with the screening of Eastern Business / Afacerea Est directed by Igor Cobileanski, a Romanian/Lithuanian coproduction between Alien Film and Just a Moment.

    Adina Pintilie’s debut feature Touch Me Not was sold by Doc & Film in more than 35 territories, including North America, where Kino Lorber acquired the rights. “The extensive international exposure, with more than 40 selections for prestigious festivals, together with a worldwide theatrical release, which started in October 2018, in more than 35 countries, offered a solid platform to fully develop this active dialogue with the international audiences”, Romanian producer Bianca Oana told FNE.

    Touch Me Not / Nu mă atinge-mă was produced by Romania’s Manekino Film in coproduction with RohFilm Productions (Germany), PINK from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria’s Agitprop Ltd and France’s Les Films de l'Étranger. The film was awarded the Golden Bear and the GWFF Best First Feature Award at the 2018 Berlin IFF.

    "Radu Jude’s I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians" / "Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari" was sold by Beta Cinema to Poland, Hungary and ex-Yugoslavia. The film won the Crystal Globe for best film at the 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF and it was Romania’s bid for the Oscars. Micro Film released it in Romania on 28 September 2018. Hi Film Productions produced it in coproduction with the Czech company endorfilm, France’s Les Films d’Ici, Bulgaria’s Klas Film and Germany’s Komplizen Film.

    Donbass by Sergei LoznitsaIoana Uricaru’s debut feature Lemonade, produced by Cristian Mungiu through Mobra films, was sold by Pluto Film to several territories after premiering in 2018 Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section. The film was sold to France’s ASC Distribution at Berlinale’s European Film Market and afterwards to China, Israel, ex-Yugoslavia and Greece, and also in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), Mexico, Italy, South Cpreea and Spain. Lemonade, a Romanian/German/Canadian/Swedish coproduction between Mobra films, 42 Film, Peripheria and Filmgate Films, was released in Romania by Mungiu’s distribution outlet Voodoo Films on 26 October 2018.

    Gabi Virginia Şarga and Cătălin Rotaru’s debut feature Thou Shalt Not Kill / Să nu ucizi was acquired by Paris-based Indie Sales ahead of its world premiere in the 1-2 Competition of the 34th Warsaw FF. Thou Shalt Not Kill was produced by Axis Media Production in coproduction with Green Cat Film. Idea Film Distribution will release the film domestically in the first semester of 2019.

    For the first time Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, the festival initiated by Cristian Mungiu with the support of the General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, whose 9th edition took place in Bucharest and also in seven Romanian towns from 19 October to 11 November 2018, gave two distribution awards of 2,500 EUR to the future Romanian distributor of an international film screened in Cannes and also of 5,000 EUR to a Romanian film that already has a domestic distributor.

    Consequently, the Aide à la Distribution Award went to 3 Faces (Iran) by Jafar Panahi, while the new creative agency ROLLERCOASTER PR received support for the distribution of The Distance between Me and Me, a documentary directed by Mona Nicoară and Dana Bunescu, and produced by Hi Film Productions and Sat Mic in coproduction with the Romanian Public Television (TVR).

    Bucharest Film Studios, the former MediaPro Studios, filed for insolvency in 2018. Media Pro Studios was sold by Central European Media Enterprises (CME) to a group of American and Romanian investors including Donald Kushner and Bobby Păunescu in 2015. Bucharest Film Studios’ request for insolvency came after a creditor asked for the company’s insolvency at the end of 2017.

    Equally Red and Blue / Albastru și roșu, în proporții egale by Georgiana Moldoveanu (UNATC I.L. Caragiale) was selected for the Cinéfondation section of the Cannes Film Festival 2018.Licu, a Romanian Story by Ana Dumitrescu

    The most awarded Romanian short film in 2018 was The Christmas Gift / Cadoul de Crăciun by Bogdan Mureșanu, winner of best film at Cottbus and Izmir, Jury Prize at Montpellier and First Prize at Alcine.

    In March 2018 Daniel Sandu’s debut feature One Step behind the Seraphim won eight awards at the 12th Gopo awards, including best film, best director and best debut feature. One Step behind the Seraphim / Un pas în urma serafimilor is one of the few Romanian feature films released on the Vimeo platform. The film was released on Vimeo at the beginning of 2018, only for the Romanian audience.

    In December 2018 Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time / Moromeții 2 by Stere Gulea, the most successful domestic film of the year, was released on Vimeo for Romanians living abroad.

    EXHIBITION AND BOX OFFICE

    Despite the fact that admissions increased to 13.8 m in 2017 due to multiplexes, the tradition of one-screen cinemas is vanishing. Since 2008, RomâniaFilm, the former cinema network inherited from the communist era, has re-assigned more than 100 cinemas to local councils, but less than 10% are still screening films. Romania is currently the country with the fewest cinema theaters per population in Europe. Seventy eight percent of Romanian towns don’t have any cinemas in use. Moreover, RomaniaFilm announced in 2018 that it will close 10 cinemas, leaving only three open, in Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Piatra Neamț.

    Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time by Stere Gulea, credit: Transilvania FilmDuring a debate around the cinemas organised at the Festival Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest in October 2018, the Romanian Film Centre (CNC) announced its intention to find a legal framework for granting 100,000 EUR for the technological upgrade of cinemas.

    In March 2018 Cinema City, the biggest cinema operator in Romania, opened in Cluj-Napoca its fifth 4DX cinema in Romania with an investment of approximately 850,000 EUR. Cinema City is currently running 26 multiplexes in 19 Romanian towns with 237 screens and 42,031 seats. 

    Due to the rising number of multiplexes, the number of screens increased from 386 in 2017 to 396 in 2018, of which 380 are digital screens.

    In December 2018 the Austrian company Cineplexx, one of the most important operators in the CEE region, announced its intention to enter the Romanian market and to open eight cinemas with more than 50 screens with an investment of 25 m EUR until 2021. The company is also prospecting a refurbishment project. The first two cinemas will open in Bucharest and Satu Mare in the first quarter of 2019 and another two cinemas will open by the end of 2019.

    A total of 23 domestic films were released in Romania in 2018, of which 10 were debuts and six long documentaries. The 19 domestic films released in 2017 included six debut features and three long documentaries.

    The most successful domestic film in 2018 was Stere Gulea’s Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time / Moromeții 2 with 184,951 admissions and 529,339 EUR / 2,475,122 RON gross in eight weeks. The sequel to the acclaimed 1987 The Moromete Family / Moromeții directed by Stere Gulea, had a very thorough marketing campaign and release strategy. It had 52,000 admissions after the first weekend and it was seen in theatrical release, special screenings and avant premieres altogether by 70,878 people.

    The official premiere was preceded by several avant premieres outside Bucharest and even in the capital city the official premiere was preceded by three avant premieres. Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time, which was produced by Libra Film and distributed by Transilvania Film, is ranked 34th in the general box office, an impressive result for a Romanian film.

    Another successful Romanian film in 2018 was the documentary Untamed Romania / România neîmblânzită by Tom Barton-Humphreys, which was produced by the British/Dutch company Off the Fence, but was funded by Auchan Retail Romania and the environmental NGO The European Nature Trust. Untamed Romania, distributed by Transilvania Film, has 81,426 admissions and 251,608 EUR /1,157,400 RON gross, and it is followed by the comedy Pup-o, mă! by Camelia Popa with 23,252 admissions and 377,518 RON gross (according to Cinemagia.ro). Pup-o, mă! is an independent production distributed by Videomix.

    The general box office 2018 is topped by Aquaman with 2,418,775 EUR / 11.309.881 RON gross, followed by Venom with 2,144,941 EUR / 10,029,468 RON gross and Avengers: Infinity War with 2,135,193 EUR / 9,983,888 RON gross. An admissions chart cannot be drawn up, because the distributor Forum Film Romania stopped reporting admissions to Cinemagia, which is the only private initiative in film statistics in Romania. As a result, total admissions cannot be known until the Romanian Film Centre releases its 2018 statistics in the spring of 2019.

    General admissions were approximately 14.5 m and the general box office was approximately 64.1 m EUR / 300 m RON in 2018, according to the Romanian Film Centre’s estimations. Also according to the CNC’s estimations, domestic films had approximately 400,000 admissions and 1,282,000 EUR / 6 m RON gross in 2018.

    In 2017 general admissions were 13.8 m and box office was 57.6 m EUR, according to the CNC.Untamed Romania by Tom Barton Humphreys, credit: Transilvania Film

    GRANTS AND NEW LEGISLATION

    The Romanian Film Center (CNC) distributed almost 10.7 m EUR / 50 m RON as production and development funding on 11 May 2018. Seventeen feature films and 10 debut features received production support. This is a record number, but it counts also for a missing session in 2017, as the projects were submitted at the end of 2017. (CNC is oblidged to organise two funding sessions per year.).

    Among the projects receiving production support on 11 May 2018 are new films by Radu Jude and Bogdan Mirică. CNC also allotted funding for several minority coproductions, including new projects by Tomasz Wasilewski, Ivan Ostrochovski and Stefan Orlandic Stojanovski.

    For the first time the CNC supported the production of four thematic feature films on the occasion of the centennial of the modern state. Another 20 short films, 15 documentaries and seven animated films received production funds.

    On 19 October 2018, at its first session for 2018 the Romanian Film Centre allotted 4,283,656 EUR / 20 m RON for production and development funding. The biggest grant went to the minority coproduction Quo vadis, Aida! by Jasmila Žbanić, coproduced by Romania’s Digital Cube. Seven of the ten feature film projects receiving production grants are international coproductions. Among other minority coproductions that received funding are Son by Ines Tanović, coproduced by Romania’s Luna Film, and Tomorrow Will Be another Day by Pedro Pinho, coproduced by deFilm production.

    Radu Jude received production funding for his new feature film The Sleepwalkers / Somnambulii, as well as for the documentary Arrival of a Train at the Station / Intrarea trenului în gară, both international coproductions produced by Micro Film.

    The funding was announced for the production of feature films, long and short documentaries, short fiction films, animated films and thematic films, and also for the development of feature films, documentaries and animated films.

    In 2018 the Romanian Film Centre prepared a new film law draft aimed at boosting support and visibility for the film industry. The draft will introduce the possibility for a film to be funded up to 80% of its budget due to a new category that would enable every Romanian film to be considered a difficult film. The new draft also provides a separate category for minority coproductions and a regional fund for co-distribution and a category of micro-budget films (films with budgets of up to 80,000 EUR), which could be financed by the CNC up to 100%. The draft is expected to move forward during the first semester of 2019.

    Romania’s cash rebate scheme approved in June 2018 was launched by the National Commission for Prognosis on 8 October 2018. The state aid scheme offers a 35% cash rebate on qualified expenditure for international productions shooting in Romania. Additionally, productions explicitly promoting Romania, with a minimum local spend of 20% of the total budget of the production, can also apply for a rebate of 10%.

    One Step Behind the Seraphim by Daniel SanduThere is a total cap of 50 m EUR per year to fund the scheme. The minimum required amount of qualified expenses is 100,000 EUR. The scheme is open to feature films, medium and short fiction films, TV series, direct-to-video, internet and any other support films, documentaries and animated films. The rebate cannot exceed 10 m EUR per project (or per season, for a TV series).

    The scheme works on a first come first served basis and will require international productions to have production services or a coproduction contract with a Romanian production company.

    The scheme is set to run until the end of 2020. The rebate scheme's budget was 50 m EUR until the end of 2018, despite the fact that the scheme covered the last three months of the year.

    A total of 41 projects applied for rebates until the end of 2018, of which seven were approved, two were rejected and the rest were still under analysis at the beginning of January 2019.

    The approved projects include international and Romanian projects such as David Berman’s War by Philip Noyce and a Florence Nightingale biopic presumably starring Keira Knightley. According to the Romanian media, Scottish actor Gerard Butler and American actor Liev Schreiber are in talks for David Berman’s War aka The Devil’s Brigade, which together with Florence are serviced in Romania by Frame Film.

    Another international project approved for the rebate is Dragonheart 5, serviced by Castel Film Studios. The film is a sequel to Universal’s Dragonheart 4, which was also shot in Romania.

    After the death of Lucian Pintilie, the newly established Fundația9 launched the Lucian Pintilie Film Fund aiming at honouring the memory of the great Romanian director as well as encouraging art house cinema made by new directors. The first filmmakers to benefit from the Fund were Cristi Iftime, Anghel Damian and Bogdan Mureșanu, who received 20,000 EUR each for their upcoming short projects. Fundația9 is an initiative supported by BRD Groupe Société Générale and one of the members of its Directorial Council is Corina Șuteu, Minister of Culture from May 2016 to January 2017.

    In November 2018 mathematician Valer-Daniel Breaz was named the new Minister of Culture in Romania, as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) changed several ministers from the Government. Valer-Daniel Breaz replaced George Ivașcu, who had been named minister of Lemonade by Ioana UricaruCulture in January 2018.

    TV

    Romanian public television runs several channels: TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, TVR HD, TVR News, TVR and TVR Moldova, and five territorial studios.

    The most popular private channels in Romania are: Pro TV (member of Media Pro trust, run by CME, Central European Media Enterprises), Antena 1 and Antena 3 (both members of Antena Group), B1 TV (owned by businessman, film producer and director Bobby Păunescu), Realitatea TV and Kanal D (run by the Turkish trust Dogan).

    Doina Gradea was elected by the Romanian Parliament as general manager of the Romanian public broadcaster (SRTV) on 28 March 2018. She was appointed acting general manager in September 2017 after the rejection of the activity report on 2016 and thus the dissolution of the Council of Administration led by the former general manager Irina Radu.

    Anii de sâmbătă seara, a TV series created by the popular director Nae Caranfil and directed by Dragoș Buliga, premiered on Pro TV on 29 December 2018. The flagship TV series of Pro TV, Las Fierbinți, entered its 13th season in 2018.

    Hackerville by Igor Cobileanski and Anca Miruna LăzărescuIn 2018 HBO Europe and Germany’s TNT Series shot in Timișoara, Bucharest and Frankfurt the six-episode series Hackerville, directed by Igor Cobileanski and Anca Miruna Lăzărescu. The series was created by Ralph Martin and Joerg Winger for UFA Fiction, and it was produced by Cristian Mungiu and Tudor Reu through Mobra Films. The series premiered on HBO Romania in the autumn of 2018.

    The third season of the successful TV series Shadows / Umbre was also shot in Romania in 2018. The six-episode HBO series was written and directed by Bogdan Mirică. The Romanian servicing company is Multi Media Est. Shadows is based on Small Time Gangster, a format created by Boilermaker Burberry, DRG Formats licensed.

    Comrade Detective, a coproduction between Amazon Studios and A24, which was shot in Romania at Castel Film Studios starring Romanian actors Florin Piersic Jr. and Corneliu Ulici (dubbed by Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), premiered on HBO and on HBO GO on 7 January 2018.

    CONTACTS:

    ROMANIAN FILM CENTRE
    4-6, Dem. I. Dobrescu street, sector 1, Bucharest
    Phone: +40 213 104 301
    Fax: + 40 213 104 300
    www.cnc.gov.ro
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    THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
    22, Bulevardul Unirii, sector 3, Bucharest
    Press office: +40 212 243 947
    www.cultura.ro 
    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    FILMMAKERS’S UNION (UCIN)
    28-30 Mendeleev, sector 1, Bucharest
    Phone: +40 213 168 0 83, +40 213 168 0 84
    Fax: + 40 213 111 246
    www.ucin.ro 
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    ROMANIAN FILM PROMOTION
    52 Popa Soare street, sector 2, Bucharest
    Phone: + 40 213 266 480
    Fax: + 40 213 260 268
    www.romfilmpromotion.ro 
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    ROMANIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE
    38 Aleea Alexandru
    Sector 1, 011824
    Bucharest, Romania
    Phone: (+4) 031 71 00 627, (+4) 031 71 00 606
    Fax: (+4) 031 71 00 607
    www.icr.ro 
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    MEDIADESK ROMANIA
    57 Barbu Delavrancea street, et. 1, sector 1, Bucharest
    Phone / Fax: +40 213 166 060, +40 213 166 061
    www.media-romania.eu 
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    Report by Iulia Blaga (2019)
    Sources: the Romanian Film Centre - CNC, cinemagia.ro