The 29th edition of the French Film Festival will take place between March 20 and March 30 in Bucharest and eleven other cities in the country, the French Institute in Romania announced.

Besides the capital, the festival will hold screenings in Arad, Braşov, Brăila, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Iaşi, Sfântu Gheorghe, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureş and Timişoara.

The festival, which highlights French auteur cinema in all its forms, is held this year under the theme of Échos, exploring how stories and images resonate across generations.

"The transfer from one generation to another, relationships, memory, and renewal are at the heart of a selection that questions our era and its transformations. Through 27 films divided into four sections, the program combines essential works and films made by emerging talents, reflecting the diversity and vitality of French cinema," the organizers explained.

In the Panorama section, the public can discover films that have been presented at top international festivals. Among them are Boris Lojkine's Cannes-awarded L'Histoire de Souleymane, on the search for identity and the resilience of a young Guinean refugee in Paris; Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu's Le Roman de Jim, a road trip in search of a missing father; Arnaud Desplechin's Spectateurs!, a reflection on cinema through the eyes of a director played by Mathieu Amalric; Agathe Riedinger's Diamant Brut, a critical look at reality TV and the cult of celebrity; and François Ozon's Quand vient l'automne, exploring family and intergenerational tensions.

The Young Talents – Feature Film Competition spotlights four films by a new generation of filmmakers. Presented in Bucharest, Cluj, Iaşi, and Timişoara, these films compete for a EUR 1,000 prize offered by the French Embassy. As such, the public can see Louise Courvoisier's Vingt Dieux, presented in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes last year; Anne-Sophie Bailly's Mon Inséparable; Koya Kamura's Hiver à Sokcho, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Elisa Shua Dusapin; and Mareike Engelhardt's Rabia.

The festival also has a Young Audience section, offering a selection of films for young viewers, children or teenagers, and the Young Talents – Short Film Competition. The latter will present five short films by young French filmmakers, several of which were selected at the Clermont-Ferrand International Festival. A jury of young Romanian critics will designate the winner, who will receive a residency at the Résidence de Poche of the French Institute in Romania.

simona@romania-insider.com