Romanian Film Evenings return to Iași for 17th edition

Preview screenings, theatre performances, concerts, and meetings with filmmakers are part of the program of the 17th edition of the Romanian Film Evenings (SFR), taking place in Iași from August 5 to August 9.

The central theme of the 2026 edition is Therapy, seen as an invitation to introspection and the search for inner balance. In an increasingly fast-paced, fragmented and overstimulated world, film, theatre and music offer audiences a way to see both the world and themselves with greater clarity, the organizers explain.

The festival will open with Paul Negoescu’s Atlas of the Universe, a film that was selected for the Generation section of the Berlin International Film Festival and Écrans Juniors in Cannes.

Other films that will be screened at the festival include Y, directed by Maria Popistașu and Alexandru Baciu; Mountain Wanderers by Cosmin Dumitrache; and Fragments from a Workshop, produced at the SFR Academy under the mentorship of Bogdan Mureșanu.

Theatre also plays a prominent role at this year's edition. Audiences in Iași will be able to see Boys in Zinc, a production by Bulandra Theatre based on the work of Svetlana Alexievich and directed by Yuri Kordonsky. The cast includes Mariana Mihuț, Dana Dogaru and Ana Ioana Macaria.

Another theatre production in the program is A Lost Letter, staged by the ACT Theatre and directed by Alexandru Dabija, with Marcel Iureș as Agamemnon Dandanache.

Events take place at several venues across Iași, including Cinema Ateneu, the Mihai Ursachi House of Culture, the Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre, Victoria Cinema (Union Hall), as well as open-air locations such as Union Square (Piața Unirii).

(Illustration: Serile Filmului Românesc on Facebook)