Dolce far niente, the film written and directed by Romanian filmmaker Nae Caranfil, will be released in local cinemas nearly three decades after it was made. The film premiered internationally in 1998 and has been screened at festivals over the years, but it never had a theatrical release in Romania.

Restored and remastered in 4K by the Romanian National Film Archive, the film will be screened as part of a series of events in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Timișoara. 

A co-production between Romania, France, Italy, and Belgium, Dolce far niente is inspired by Frédéric Vitoux's novel La Comédie de Terracina. It imagines a fictional meeting between the young Henri Beyle, later known by his pen name Stendhal, and composer Gioachino Rossini in Italy in 1816.

The cast includes Giancarlo Giannini, François Cluzet, Margherita Buy, Isabella Ferrari, and Pierfrancesco Favino. The score was composed by Italian composer Nicola Piovani, who won an Oscar for Best Music for the work on Roberto Benigni’s La vita è bella.

The restoration and 4K remastering were carried out between March and November 2025, using the original picture and sound negatives. The color grading was handled by Răzvan Ungureanu under the supervision of cinematographer Cristian Comeagă. The sound restoration and remastering were completed by Vlad Orășanu at MDV Production, while the digital image cleanup was carried out by Mihai Dăncăiescu.

The film is distributed by Independența Film.

(Photos: PR)

simona@romania-insider.com