Beside the regular sections (ARTE, LUX Prize, Focus Moldova), this edition comes with the new sections FFE Clasic (restored films), Common Ground, Europe’s Pulse and AGORA: Women in Society. The festival also has a new artistic director, Benjamin Ribout.

“In the year when Romania celebrates 100 years from the Great Union, the festival proposes a subjective panorama of 100 years of European cinema, in a moment of confluence with the European Year of Cultural Heritage”, Liliana Țuroiu, President of the Romanian Cultural Institute, said in a statement.

In Bucharest the festival takes place in seven locations and will open with the French film See You Up There by Albert Dupontel.

The selection includes the Polish drama Birds Are Singing in Kigali by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, the Czech/Croatian documentary When the War Comes by Jan Gebert, the Bulgarian psychological drama Lift for Patients by Iglika Triffonova and the Croatian drama A Brief Excursion, directed by Igor Bezinović and produced by Studio Pangolin.

Many screenings will be followed by discussions with the directors and members of the cast. The festival also includes workshops for children and teenagers, debates and concerts.

The European Film Festival is organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute under the aegis of EUNIC Romania, in partnership with the European Commission Representation in Romania, with the support of embassies and cultural centres of European countries.