Film Menu is a film magazine founded and edited by students of the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest (Universitatea Naţională de Artă Teatrală şi Cinematografică - UNATC). The magazine, in Romanian, aims mainly at educating the future generation of film critics and specialists. This makes it often stuffy and schoolish to read but in a country without a serious film magazine left in print, it is both a necessity and an achievement. Their ambitious and broad dossiers (among others, on feminist and queer cinema, Soviet realism, Romanian classic film, Hollywood) and especially their interviews with Romanian filmmakers are always fun to read. The magazine appears every second month and can be read for free online; you can browse through the archives and download every issue.

Film Menu is also active in the 'real-life' promotion of cinema: their film club (“Cineclub Film Menu”) is an ongoing event which screens classics and rarities. In addition, in the spirit of education, the entrance is free. If you are a friend of rare gems or simply want to re-watch films you know on a big screen, you should follow their blog or like their Facebook page in order to be up to date on the programme. Formerly shown at cinema Union and now at UNATC's cinema (75-77 Matei Voievod Street, near Piața Iancului), the club shows three of four films each month, often followed by a discussion. The current series, January 2015, started with a classic of feminist and queer cinema, the scandal-ridden 1931 German drama Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform, a story set in a Prussian girls' boarding school in which a student falls in love with her authoritarian teacher. Remade in 1985 with Romy Schneider, the original is not just better but also much more sensual and gripping.

Today's  film is another classic, this time a more 'mainstream' one, the hugely enjoyable adventure/crime/love story Macao (1952) starring Robert Mitchum and the stunning Jane Russell (Thursday, 22 January, 7pm). You might know this from TV but seeing it on a big screen is a delight, not just because of the great camerawork and the exotic setting but also because of the brilliant comic dialogue and Mitchum and Russell's sizzling onscreen chemistry.

The last screening this month is on 29 January, also at 7pm, and it's a Serbian milestone, a film banned in communist Yugoslavia upon its release in 1971. Mlad i zdrav kao ruža/Young and Healthy as a Rose follows a young delinquent who can't conform to social (and socialist) norms and rises up to be the crime boss of Belgrade. Unapologetically rebellious and brimming with energy, if this show doesn't delight every arthouse afficionado, then I don't know what would.

Film Menu has initiated another screening series recently, “Să film!”, in which they screen contemporary Romanian features and invite the makers to discuss them.

All in all an impressive portfolio and important projects to support. For the love of cinema, cinematic education, and - most simply - for the love of sheer big screen joy.

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com

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