Romania's Chamber of Deputies rejects bill supported by famous filmmakers

The Chamber of Deputies rejected yesterday an emergency ordinance approved by the former Dacian Ciolos government on financing Romanian movies. The deputies rejected the project despite the appeal of famous movie directors and producers such as Nae Caranfil, Radu Muntean, Radu Jude, and Ada Solomon to approve it. Members of the board of directors of the National Center for Cinematography and filmmakers requested the deputies via an open letter not to reject the emergency ordinance and to return it to the Parliament’s culture committee to have a real debate on this bill. Romanian movie director Tudor Giurgiu said in the Parliament yesterday that the members of the culture committee rejected the bill without consulting people in the industry. The emergency ordinance aimed to make the competition for getting cinema funds more transparent. It introduced two new categories in the competition, one for movies with a low budget and one for experimental movies. The ordinance also provided the possibility to grant funds to young filmmakers for their first and second feature films. The emergency ordinance was approved by the former Government at the end of November 2016. It provided the collection of more taxes for the cinema fund. Romania’s Govt. could introduce state aid for cinema industry editor@romania-insider.com