Exciting is not my usual adjective for the month of February, but oh boy, is it now! Film-wise it’s such a fiercely fantastic month I had to restrain myself from raving too much about everything, otherwise this column would have turned into a novel.

Il Cinema Ritrovato is arriving to Romania for the third time and I am overjoyed the event has become a February fixture. For almost 40 decades, the Bologna-hosted festival has been celebrating and supporting the preservation and restoration of original film material worldwide. Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour starts in Bucharest (11 to 15 February) and then goes to Cluj-Napoca (8, 15 and 22 February) and Timișoara (20 to 22 February). My colleagues have already featured the facts here and I'm emphasizing the recommendation because the lovingly put-together event brings rare fare to the big screens, and in excellent quality. I don’t have to think what to single out, honestly, just catch everything you can, from Luchino Visconti’s opulent, tragic Sandra (1965), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s less known Location Hunting in Palestine (1965) and the superb The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) or James Bidgood’s cult queer erotica experimental Pink Narcissus (1971).

Coming back my last column that suggested movies set in winter and the opposite season, I am happy to carry on. Cinema Arta cinema in Cluj is screening Krzysztof Kieślowski’s White (1994) as part of the director’s Three Colours trilogy, based on the three ideas of the French revolution (and all named after the flag’s colours): fraternity, liberty, equality. If this sounds confusing or pretentious, rest assured that it’s anything but. Kieślowski is a brilliant author who steers each film with elegance and perfect control. The episodes stand on their own but are full of cross-references to their admirers’ delight. Wintry White is the part I’m particularly fond of, even (or maybe despite) it being less famous and revered than Red and Blue. It is also the funniest one, a love story between a hapless Polish immigrant in Paris and his French wife. Sharp, black-humoured to the bone but never to the heart, and very touching.

Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands (2025) is a noir set in the brightest of sunshine, on the island of Fuerteventura. It follows a jaded tennis instructor working at a luxury hotel whose routine of partying and drinking is disturbed by the arrival of a new family – a euphemism really: it’s completely derailed, noir-film style. The end can be anti-climatic for some, but I enjoyed it so much for daring to leave things unsaid, the great sustained tension, the great acting, and the filmmakers' joy of playing with the tropes of the genre. 

I will end with my most beloved viewing of late. You'll have to forgive me for the inflationary use of superlatives but I can’t help it. Unless you’ve been living under a (humongous) rock, you must have stumbled across the insanely passionate phenomenon that is Heated Rivalry, a 2025 Canadian series based on a popular queer sports romance book series and focusing on the relationship between two professional ice hockey players. HBO Max acquired the show and has recently brought it to Romania. The hype is real; this is an impeccably told and wonderfully acted romance – I really can't think of any actors with more on-screen chemistry than Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie here. Its success has also been propelled by the most wholesome, hilarious fandom bowing down to the most consuming, uplifting experience on TV, and there seems to be no end in sight for the memes that have been making the internet (and the world) a more bearable place. The story starts as a thrilling, sexy ride that turns more emotional with each episode only to culminate in the most cathartic, exquisite joy. Queer viewers might dissolve in an unabashedly comforting embrace of belonging and happiness, but this is for everyone, and its universal appeal has transcended into the zeitgeist – cue the Canadian prime minster being a fan, as is the mayor of New York, unbelievable marketing campaigns, real-life coming-out stories, or the two leads carrying the Olympic torch in Milano Cortina. Google it, trust me, you’ll need less than three clicks to gasp at it all. And speaking of the Olympics: On the heels of featuring their most treasured acting duo carrying said flame, HBO Max will also stream THE ultimate, majestic event: the Winter Games 2026. What a month.

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

Picture info & credit: still from Heated Rivalry, courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery Romania