Producer Ada Solomon has been elected chair of the board of the European Film Academy, marking the highest level of representation the Romanian film industry has achieved within the institution. Solomon was chosen by more than 5,400 Academy members across Europe, according to the official announcement. 

Dutch producer Leontine Petit and French producer Matthieu Darras were elected deputy chairs, and the new two-year leadership term will begin on January 1, 2026. The president of the Academy remains Juliette Binoche.

Ada Solomon has served as deputy chair of the board for the past six years and was previously a full board member. A member of the European Film Academy since 2011, she is the first Romanian woman to hold a leadership role within the board.

“Being part of the European Film Academy board for a decade now, I took the responsibility to promote excellence in filmmaking in all the diversity of the European cinematic voices, but also to put the spotlight on the less visible ones – the smaller territories, the underrepresented forms of cinema, the crews behind the camera. It is a time of change, and I am ready to take the challenge knowing that I am backed up by the great executive team of the Academy and the amazing people in the board of the European Film Academy, and especially the newly elected deputy chairs: Leontine Petit and Matthieu Darras,” said Ada Solomon.

The complete list of board members is available on the official website of the European Film Academy - here.

With a career spanning more than 25 years, Ada Solomon has received multiple European distinctions, including the Eurimages Co-Production Award, the Central European Initiative Award, and the APA Excellence Award. She has produced or co-produced nearly 100 films - fiction features, documentaries, and shorts - distributed in over 50 territories. She is also a nine-time Gopo Award winner for Best Film and remains active in several European and Romanian industry organisations.

Her body of work includes acclaimed titles such as Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude, Berlinale Golden Bear), Child’s Pose (Călin Netzer, Berlinale Golden Bear), Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, European Film Award for Best Film, Oscar nominee), Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude) and The New Year That Never Came (Bogdan Mureșanu). 

In 2025, Solomon’s latest production, Sorella di Clausura by Ivana Mladenović, screened at major festivals including Locarno, Sarajevo, and Gijon. 

She has also collaborated as line producer on international projects such as Franco Zeffirelli’s Callas Forever and the German box-office hit The Three Investigators and the Legacy of the Dragon.

Founded in 1989 by Ingmar Bergman and a group of leading European filmmakers, the European Film Academy promotes the interests of the continent’s film industry. Its leadership has included Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, and, since 2024, Juliette Binoche.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: press release; by Adi Bulboacă)