Calendar of events for the period August 23-26

Local lender BCR has granted over 10,000 mortgage loans as part of the First House program so far, with the total financing exceeding EUR 420 million on this program. BCR, which started offering the First House loans in August last year, gave most of its loans in Bucharest – over 3,000 loans totaling EUR 150 million.

A chamber music concert will take place at the Mogosoaia Palace on September 5 starting 17,00 hours and featuring music pieces composed by Robert Schumann and Frederic Chopin. Three local artists will take part in the event: opera singer Pompeiu Harasteanu, pianist Ilinca Dumitrescu and bassoon player Vasile Macovei.

Two Romanian feature length films and a documentary will be screened in the International Film festival in new York, which will take place between September 24 and October 10, according to variety.com. (trailers inside).

A Romanian film festival will take place in Bombay, India, between August 23 and August 30, according to indiantelevision.com.

Learning about Romania through food and old traditions could be a good way to spend some of your week-end, as three events held in Bucharest will give you the opportunity to do so.

Romanians' only chance to get 4% interest on loans per year – in Ziarul Financiar, Romanians won't pay any more than 500 RON for a PC monitor on average – in Ziarul Financiar, Holcim's cement sales decline slows down in Q2 – in Ziarul Financiar, Austria's Volksbank brings Lucian Cojocaru from BRD to run retail operations – in Ziarul Financiar

Radu Timis profits from real estate context to set up 200-district store network – in Ziarul Financiar

The renowned Romanian musician George Enescu was equally remarkable as a violinist, composer, conductor, pianist and violin teacher. He is best known for bringing the sound of the Romanian traditional folk songs into classical music.

Movies opening in Romanian cinemas during the week-end August 20-22

The antiquarian bookshelves in Universitate area of Bucharest will no longer tell a dull, gray story when closed during the evening. They will be painted with realistic-comical scenes in the everyday life in Bucharest by a group of artists involved in the 'I Love Bucharest' – the Adventures of Mr. Urban project. The organizers of this project are 'Asociatia din Pod' (The Attic Association) and Mora Foundation. The 22 bookshelves will be painted with comic-like drawings. The artists have already started to work on this project and should be ready in two weeks.

The Guardian travel writer Benji Lanyado, who was on a train trip from London to Istanbul, making videos from the places he has visited, has dedicated one to Bucharest and Romania. “Ceausescu's remains have been exhumed this week, but Benji Lanyado goes looking for another Romanian tyrant,” writes The Guardian as the video's intro.

Vienna Insurance Group's companies active in Romania posted EUR 274 million of gross subscribed premiums in the first half of the year, a drop of 12.5 percent compared to the same period of 2009. However, VIG grew its profit in Romania by 18.7 percent, to EUR 14.3 million during this period. VIG owns BCR Asigurari de Viata, BCR Asigurari, Omniasig, Omniasig Life and Asirom in Romania.