Movie director: Lack of cinema halls cripples Romanian cinema industry

Romania's lack of cinema halls is crippling the country's cinema industry, as film producers in the country cannot even recover promotion expenses, according to film director Tudor Giurgiu, quoted by Agerpres.

From the 300 cinema halls in Romania, the country now has only 40, for a population of 19 million people. Movie theaters have been closed down due to lack of funding, especially in smaller towns or villages. Bucharest too only has several remaining cinema halls run by the state, the rest being privately - owned, usually multiplex cinemas located in shopping malls. “When you cannot even recover the production expenses, not to mention the promotional expenses, it means you have no industry. What remains to be done is to somehow promote commercial cinema with good taste to the Romanian public – timidly, besides art movies – or this is what I have been trying to do,” said Tudor Giurgiu. “Yes, you survive, because in general you do something else as well, commercials, go to festivals,” the director added. Financing is an issue for Romanian directors as much as it is for their US counterparts, but the problem arises when the population needs to be convinced to watch these movies. Tudor Giurgiu's latest movie is 'Of snails and men' (Despre oameni si melci)- we reviewed it here. Giurgiu said he's currently working on a new project about politics and justice, based on a real case. editor@romania-insider.com