The Minister of Culture, Lucian Romascanu, on Tuesday hailed the organization of the Cinema Theatre Day for the first time in Romania, underscoring that films must also be regarded as a form of art and thus receive the proper amount of attention, beyond the commercial aspects, according to Agerpres.

„The Cinema Theatre Day is a first for Romania and it deserves to be heavily promoted. I believe that film is the most democratic form of art, because everyone is exposed to film in one form or another. However, I believe that we must pay due attention to it as an important art form, beyond the commercial aspects, beyond everything that means, let’s say, cinematography made in Hollywood. Film is also an extremely important art, and Romania has always been on the map of this form of artistic expression, and the Ministry of Culture will continue to be a partner for all those who want to express their creativity in this form,” Romascanu told a press conference organized by the Association of Cinema Operators (AOC), in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, dedicated to the announcement of the organization, for the first time, on Saturday, of the Cinema Theatre Day.

The Minister also voiced hope that the „art cinema” will be present in the cinema halls on this occasion and not only.

„We congratulate the people from the Cinema Operators Association for the extremely generous idea of marking this day of cinemas by attracting the public to the cinema halls through special offers, cheaper tickets, and the part of the administration that we represent must also be present and emphasize what the art cinema means, which has a cultural message, (…) which we hope to see, certainly, through the goodwill of the cinema operators, in the cinema halls and we hope to see the audience as well coming to see the work of Romanian authors,” Romascanu pointed out.

Lucian Romascanu announced that the Ministry of Culture will organize on September 10 various events dedicated to cinema „to mark this day as an important part of Romanian cultural expression,” recalling, among other events, those held at the National Theatre in Bucharest, at the National Village Museum „Dimitrie Gusti”, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the National History Museum of Bucharest, the National History Museum of Transylvania, etc.

The head of the National Cinematography Centre (CNC), Anca Mitran, lamented the fact that the number of cinemas has reduced „drastically,” from around 450 cinemas until the 90s, to only 90 cinemas, with around 400 screens today.

„The cinema hall is a very important link in the chain of the film industry,” Mitran said, adding that „if there were no movie theatres, there would be no film production.”

The head of the CNC showed that in the past five years, the cinema halls have contributed to the Cinema Fund with approximately 20 million lei.

The head of the Association of Cinema Operators, Jacob Borover, said that the organization of the Cinema Theatre Day is the way in which the association he leads thanks „all those who came and come to the cinemas to watch a movie and who thus supported the big screen” during of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agerpres