Romanian Film Festival UK 2025

Romanian films take London and Colchester by storm!

Time & Location

27 Nov 2025, 18:00 – 01 Dec 2025, 21:00 Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 5DY, UK

About the event

Building on two decades of celebrating Romanian cinema in the UK, The Romanian Film Festival UK 2025, a new initiative by ReelOnMedia and Asociația Culturală Art-Cord, presents a bold programme of new and archive films, including features, documentaries, and shorts. Screenings will take place at the prestigious Curzon Soho cinema in London, with a special pop-up event at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester. Most screenings will be followed by Q&A sessions with some of Romania’s most acclaimed filmmakers and actors. Among the highlights are Traffic (2023), Romania’s official Academy Awards entry, directed by Teodora Ana Mihai and written by Palme d’Or–winning Cristian Mungiu; Kontinental ’25 (2025) directed by Radu Jude, winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival; Tudor Giurgiu's newest feature The Spruce Forest; and a rare 4K restored screening of Forest of the Hanged (1965) by Liviu Ciulei.

Before the first screening of the Festival, we will present a short film, In Memoriam Ramona Mitrică, who organised the Romanian Film Festival in London between 2003 and 2023, which became a landmark project for British and Romanian film lovers.

PROGRAMME:

Thursday, 27 November 2025, 6 pm

Traffic (2023) – Dir. Teodora Ana Mihai, 119 mins, CERT 15 - UK PREMIERE - Tickets HERE

Romania’s official Academy Awards entry follows a group of Romanian immigrants in the Netherlands who, treated as second-class citizens, stage a daring heist. Written by Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu, the film stars César-winning Anamaria Vartolomei, Olivier Gourmet, and Maria Popistașu.

Q&A with actor Rareș Andrici

Friday, 28 November 2025, 6:00 pm

Housekeeping for Beginners (2023) – Dir. Goran Stolevski, 107 mins, CERT 15 - Tickets HERE

Winner of the Queer Lion Award at Venice, this film portrays Dita (Anamaria Marinca), suddenly forced to care for her late partner’s two daughters in a chaotic household. A tender, anarchic story of chosen family, identity, and resilience.

Q&A with actor Anamaria Marinca

Saturday, 29 November 2025, 5:40 pm

Forest of the Hanged (1965) – Dir. Liviu Ciulei, 158 mins - Tickets HERE

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, this 4K restored masterpiece follows Apostol Bologa, an Austro-Hungarian officer confronting duty and conscience. Winner of Best Director at Cannes 1965, the film is a cornerstone of Romanian and world cinema.

Intro by Alexandru Gherman, Festival Co-Director

Sunday, 30 November 2025, 2:20 pm

The Spruce Forest (2024) – Dir. Tudor Giurgiu, 75 mins, CERT 15 - UK PREMIERE - Tickets HERE

Recounting the horrors of the Fântâna Albă massacre, this film brings lost archival testimony to life. Acclaimed performances by Coca Bloos and Mircea Andreescu evoke generational trauma amid historical catastrophe.

Q&A with director Tudor Giurgiu

Sunday, 30 November 2025, 5:00 pm

The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005) – Dir. Cristi Puiu, 153 mins, CERT 15 - Tickets HERE

This darkly humorous, deeply humane masterpiece follows Mr Lazarescu as he is shuffled through Bucharest’s hospitals. A landmark of the Romanian New Wave, it stars Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminița Gheorghiu, Gabriel Spahiu, and Doru Ana.

Q&A with editor Dana Bunescu

Monday, 1 December 2025, 6:00 pm

Kontinental ’25 (2025) – Dir. Radu Jude, 109 mins, CERT 15 - Tickets HERE

Preceded by Jude’s short film Plastic Semiotic

A trenchant, darkly comic meditation on progress, corruption, and the human cost of modernity, starring Eszter Tompa, Ilinca Manolache, Orsolya Moldován, and Șerban Pavlu. Premiered In Competition at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival, winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

Q&A with actor Eszter Tompa

Special Screening of Traffic at Firstsite Gallery, Colchester – Saturday, 29 November 2025 - TICKETS HERE

12:00 – 2:00 pm – Community events for all ages (free of charge)

1:30 pm – Traffic

The Romanian Film Festival UK is organised by Manuela R. Morar and Dr Alexandru Gherman, in partnership with Curzon Cinemas and Firstsite Gallery. The Departamentul Românilor de Pretutindeni funded the festival. With the support of the Romanian Embassy in London, Romanian Cultural Institute, the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation, Români în UK, Povești spuse-n românește, Anglia Care, Crystals of London, Foarfeca, ELAM, and Tohani Romania.