Movie Theater Day celebrated in Romania for the first time on Saturday, September 10

Romania celebrates movie theaters for the first time this weekend, on the newly inaugurated Movie Theater Day which will take place on Saturday, September 10. The initiative belongs to the Cinema Operators' Association and is being carried out in partnership with the Romanian Ministry of Culture.

The celebratory day involves special offers on tickets in a number of movie theaters - with places such as theater chain Cinema City offering ticket prices under RON 10, special screenings, and a variety of events such as thematic workshops and open discussions organized with the ministry’s support.

"This day will be a tribute to cinema and a reward for film lovers, after a period in which the social context has been less than favorable for both cinemas and cinema-goers," reads the press release issued by the Ministry of Culture.

During the press conference held at one of Bucharest’s mall-based movie theaters, Minister Lucian Romașcanu, CNC Director Anca Mitran, and President of the Cinema Operators Association, Jacob Borover discussed the worrying state of movie theaters throughout the country, says culturaladuba.ro.

According to Anca Mitran, there used to 450 movie theaters in Romania before 1990, and now there remain only 90. Moreover, several of these are in an advanced state of decay and there are currently no plans to renovate them.

Asked about this problem, culture minister Lucian Romașcanu said that there was a law that allowed municipalities to take over cinemas in order to renovate them, but they did not have the necessary funds.

"Now the town halls have money, but no legal framework. There is a law in the parliamentary circuit at the moment that will put all these things in deadlines, we will make an inventory of all the cinemas, the situation they are in, many of them are closed, in disrepair. When this law is in place, we will have the legal framework to transfer them to the administration of local authorities from RADEF.”

CNC Director Anca Mitran highlighted the importance of movie theaters in the film industry: "The cinema is a very important link in the chain of the film industry, and if there were no cinemas there would be no film production, there would be no Romanian films.”

The events organized by the Ministry of Culture in celebration of Romanian movie theaters are as follows:

At the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest