A selection of Romanian films, foreign productions and concerts are part of the program of Alba Iulia Music & Film Festival (AIMFF), scheduled to take place between August 23 and August 25.

The 12th edition of AIMFF will open on August 23 with Stere Gulea's Moromeții 3. Unlike the previous two films, it is not based on a specific novel but on a script signed by Stere Gulea. It takes the audience back to 1954, when young writer Niculae Moromete is faced with difficult choices.

On the same day, the Anton Pann Ensemble will deliver a concert featuring a program of old Romanian music by Dimitrie Cantemir, Anton Pann, and a series of anonymous authors. Songs such as "Bordeiaş, bordei, bordei", "Pănă când nu te iubeam" or "Inima mi-e pleni" will be performed with the help of instruments such as the oud, qanun, tambourine, violin, bendir and other old instruments.

The first day's program also includes Luc Besson's latest feature film Dogman, and Win Wenders's Perfect Days.

Nasty, the documentary on the career of tennis bad boy Ilie Năstase, will be screened on the second day of the festival, when a concert by 90s band Azur is also scheduled. Banned by the Communist-era secret police Securitate, the band broke the rules and proposed a new sound: fiddle music, set to electric guitar and organ, overlapping with Balkan rhythms.

Ana-Maria Comănescu's feature debut Horia, about a teenager who sets off on a motorcycle to the other end of the country to meet the girl he is in love with, will also be screened on the second day, as will David Pujol's Waiting for Dali, a comedy on the passion for cooking and the drive to leave a lasting legacy.

The festival will wrap up on August 25 with a recital by Tania Turtureanu, before the screening of the film A Remarkable Life, directed by James Hawes.

On the same day, screenings of Horia Cucută and George ve Gänæaard's Classified, a film inviting the audience to reflect on modern challenges, from workplace toxicity to the ethics of using Artificial Intelligence, and Blake Edwards's Breakfast at Tiffany are also scheduled.

More on the program of the festival here.

(Photo: Alba Iulia Music and Film Festival on Facebook)

simona@romania-insider.com