Balkan film and food take center stage at Romanian festival

Divan Film Festival, an event dedicated to Balkan film and food, takes place this year between August 18 and August 26. The festival stops between August 18 and August 20 in Craiova and between August 21 and August 26 in Port Cultural Cetate, in Southern Romania. The festival tackles this year the theme of love in order to dismantle stereotypes associating the region with violence. “When one says the Balkans, they automatically think about war and death, about uprooted families and hiccups crying. This year, Divan Film Festival plans to show that people also love each other in the Balkans, they don’t just hurt and hate one other. We have chosen to pay an homage to love with new films, most of them to be screened in a national premiere,” Catalin Olaru, the artistic director of the event, explained. Besides film screenings and concerts, the festival also hosts a series of culinary events. The festival is supported by the Mircea Dinescu Poetry Foundation of the Romanian poet Mircea Dinescu. Dinescu is also the owner of the Bucharest restaurant Lacrimi si Sfinti, and of a farm in Port Cetate. The program is being updated here. Entrance is free to all screenings and concerts of the festival. Camping is also free in Port Cultural Cetate, and those interested can register on the event’s Facebook page. editor@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Divan Film Festival)