The second edition of the FILMIKON International Festival, showcasing films awarded by ecumenical juries, will take place this month in several cities in Romania, including Bucharest, Iași, Oradea, and Cluj-Napoca, as well as in the Vatican. The event, organized by SIGNIS Romania, will feature a selection of films recognized at over 30 international film festivals worldwide, as well as discussions on Christian and human values based on these productions.

Events and screenings will take place in Bucharest (January 18-24), Iași (January 23), Cluj-Napoca (January 24), Oradea (January 23-24), and Vatican (January 24-25). This year's edition is part of the program for the 2025 Jubilee Year.

The festival will kick off in Bucharest on January 18 with a special preview of the much-anticipated film The Seed of the Sacred Fig (directed by Mohammad Rasoulof), which won the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film, inspired by real events during violent protests in Tehran, tells the story of Iman, a newly appointed judge, and the strong women in his family. The screening will be followed by a discussion between film critic Ileana Bîrsan, the director of FILMIKON, and film critic Irina Margareta Nistor.

The following day, January 19, another special event will take place at the St. Joseph Cathedral, with a live cine-concert featuring Christus, a 1916 silent film about the life of Jesus Christ, directed by Giulio Antamoro. The film's score will be performed live on the cathedral organ by French musician Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard, the resident organist at the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris.

The films in this edition of FILMIKON address contemporary global issues, including the consequences of totalitarian regimes, the challenges of migration, and the impact of disease and marginalization on childhood, the organizers said.

The festival will also showcase Romanian films such as Where the Elephants Go (directed by Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru) and Dead Cat (directed by Ana-Maria Comănescu), both of which received special recognition at the 2024 Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF). The movies will be screened at Cinema Union.

FILMIKON screenings will also take place in Iași (Cinema Ateneu), Oradea (Cinema Palace and Oradea Shopping City), and Cluj-Napoca (Cinema Victoria). 

The Christus cine-concert and The Cardinal will be presented in the Vatican as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year, on the occasion of the Communications Social Jubilee from January 24 to 26, a tradition observed by the Catholic Church every 25 years.

The complete FILMIKON program will soon be available on eventbook.ro and the festival's Facebook page.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: the organisers)