Romanian Film Festival Kicks Off in Minneapolis on November 2nd

(Minneapolis) – Minnesota is home to thousands of Eastern European immigrants, many of whom come together every year to celebrate their culture through a Romanian Film Festival. The theme of the third annual festival put on by the Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in Minnesota (HORA) is “Through the Looking Glass.”

“When we look at ourselves in the mirror or at things through a magnifying glass, we see a reversed or enlarged version of reality. That is, in a way, what movies do: project it onto the screen as a distorted, sometimes strange parallel world,” said Gina Popa, Vice President, HORA.
This year’s celebration takes place between November 2 and 10, 2024. The festival kicks off on Saturday, November 2, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. with a reception at the American Swedish Institute, which is located at 2600 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55407.

As the event is getting underway, Duo Fara Nume—the violin and accordion duo of Colleen Bertsch and Eric Ray—will perform. Dorian Branea, Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, will provide opening remarks at 4 p.m., setting the stage for the evening’s program.

The documentary, “Journeys of Identity: Romanian Immigration Stories of Resilience” will play at 4:15 p.m. This groundbreaking documentary offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of Romanian immigrants and their families, who have journeyed across continents to make Minnesota their home.

Through candid interviews and personal stories, “Journeys of Identity” explores themes of cultural adaptation, intergenerational identity, and the enduring spirit of resilience that defines the immigrant experience.

“Through this documentary we hope to inspire second generation immigrants to start the conversation with their parents and grandparents while they are still around. We also want to bring the immigration topic to the kitchen table of each house and show that it is a much more complex topic than the political discourse it’s bring reduced to,” said Danda Voller, President, HORA.

After the hour-long documentary is shown, there will be a Q&A session with filmmakers and individuals featured in the documentary.

Free parking is available in the designated parking lot or on the street.

The rest of the films being featured during this year’s Romanian Film Festival will be shown on November 8, 9 and 10, 2024, at The Main Cinema, which is located at 115 SE Main Street, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

Horia (2023) – 108-minute film followed by Q&A

Friday November 8, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Ana-Maria Comănescu’s coming-of-age drama follows the titular character, a 17-year-old living in a small village with his father, a mechanic. When Horia succeeds in passing his graduation exams, his father gives him his old Mobra motorbike (together with some life advice that stresses the generation gap between them), a gift that doesn’t impress the teenager at all. Following a fight with his dad, Horia will run away from home on the Mobra, starting a journey across the country to reunite with the girl he has a crush on. And now is the perfect time for the director to put obstacles in his path, which makes Horia an even rarer beast in Romanian cinema: a road movie and coming-of-age story.

Warboy (2023) – 85-minute film followed by Q&A

Saturday November 9, 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Warboy is set in the Fall of 1944. World War II is coming to an end. The movie tells the emotionally charged story of a teenager who, in an attempt to save his family’s two horses, embarks on an initiatory journey, crossing the wild landscape of the Apuseni Mountains. With a blend of genres including adventure, war film, children’s film, and western, Warboy is a movie for the whole family.

Where Elephants Go (Unde Merg Elefantii?) – 115-minute film followed by Q&A

Saturday November 9, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

The movie seems to cater to an audience eager for a lighter touch than the usual bleak, drab and morose Romanian drama. By telling a story about three characters at a certain place in their lives, where they seemingly have nothing more to lose, the film playfully points the finger at society’s expectations. The film also talks about how we lie to ourselves and to others in order to make life more bearable. “In case of problems, use fiction or wear a colorful, crocheted hat,” the film seems to say.

Three Kilometers to the End of the World (Trei Kilometri pana la Capatul Lumii) – 105-minute film followed by Q&A

Sunday, November 10, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Actor-turned-director Emanuel Pârvu examines the fallout of a homophobic assault in a rural community from multiple perspectives. Set in a conservative Danube Delta community, a gay teenager's journey of self-discovery clashes with the traditional values upheld by his parents and neighbors. This film was a Palme d’Or contender at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and took home the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival for best feature film.

This year’s Romanian film festival has been possible through a grant from Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) and the generous support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. This work is funded in part by MHC with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. For more information about these events, check out the website https://hora-mn.org/

About Romanian Films

After the fall of communism in 1989, a Romanian New Wave cinema emerged as an austere, realist, and minimalist, often accompanied by black humor type of film. It is an art form that has received a lot of acclaim, almost every year being awarded at prestigious international film festivals.

Still, watching a Romanian movie is not a “sit back and relax” type of experience. It requires the audience to do an intense intellectual and emotional exercise and ask themselves questions that might not always get answers. It might be intriguing, controversial, irreverent, shocking, funny, a tragedy and dark comedy at the same time.

The world portrayed in Romanian films is most often the opposite of normal or what is expected, and the characters’ personalities are hard to decipher. They are convoluted and tormented, enigmatic and insecure in their relationships and self-search. They are portrayed as if through a magnifying glass, as if in a twilight zone, leaving it to the viewer to try to make their own inferences.

Facts About Romanian Culture in Minnesota

Romanians came to Minnesota in two primary waves, first in the 1900s and the second after the fall of communism after 1989. Romanians settled near other Eastern European immigrants, mainly in St. Paul and South Saint Paul. Today the community is largely centered in three regions in the state: Rochester, Duluth and the Twin Cities.

According to recent census data, there are 25,859 Eastern Europeans in Minnesota and approximately 6,000 are of Romanian descent.

About HORA

HORA has previously produced two documentaries about Romanian immigration in Minnesota: “A Thousand Dollars and Back” and “Through the Iron Curtain, from Romania.” The organization is proud to present the third documentary to start this film festival: “Journeys of Identity, Romanian Immigration Stories of Resilience.” Learn more at HORA-MN.org