Romanians Unite to Save Silver Screens

Twenty-five years ago, cinemas graced almost every town in Romania. Now the country has the smallest numbers of cinemas per head of the population in Europe: less than 50 for a country of 19.5 million inhabitants. More than 400 have closed down since 1990.

Facing this grim prospect, a group of Romanian filmmakers has started a campaign, called "Save The Big Screen", which aims to halt the death of cinema in Romania and put pressure on the government to ensure that at least a dozen are restored.

"Our aim is that every town with at least 20,000 inhabitants should have a cinema. We also hope that within the next three years we will have a network of at least 10 cinemas that are digitised and modernised," film director Tudor Giurgiu said.

Some privately-owned multiplexes have been set up in big cities in recent years but the organizers of the campaign argue that they do not make up for the closures, and rarely show arthouse or locally-made films.

Internet downloads, a greater choice of films available at DVD rental stores and the distribution almost solely of American productions in multiplex cinemas have all contributed to the decline of interest in cinema.

Ironically, the growing disappearance of cinemas has come at a time of growing worldwide recognition for the achievements of Romanian filmmakers.

Last year, "Child's Pose", a film directed by Calin Netzer, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival.

In 2012, the low-budget film, “Beyond the Hills”, directed by Cristian Mungiu, won two prizes at Cannes.