The number of local admissions to Romanian productions went up from 203,822 in 2015 to more than 400,000 in 2016, according to data from the Romanian Film Center (Centrul National al Cinematografiei CNC) quoted by filmneweurope.com.

The increase is largely due to two comedies released last year: #Selfie69 by Cristina Iacob and Two Lottery Tickets by Paul Negoescu. The two films brought in more than EUR 1 million worth of box office revenues combined, according to the same source.

According to the same source, the total number of admissions stood at an estimated 12 million last year, compared to 11,166,861 in 2015 and 10,171,644 in 2014. The total box office was approximately EUR 51.2 million (RON 228 million), compared to almost EUR 46.5 million (RON 206. 8 million) in 2015 and EUR 41.6 million (RON 185.2 million) in 2014.

CNC data show that at the end of the third quarter of 2016 #Selfie69 had 75,244 viewers. Bacalaureat (Graduation), the drama that brought director Cristian Mungiu the Best Director award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, had 46,057 viewers. Caini (Dogs), the debut feature film of director Bogdan Mirica and the winner of the FIPRESCI award of the international film critics in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, had 10,266 viewers. Ilegitim, Adrian Sitaru’s film that won the CICAE Art Cinema Award in the Forum section of the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), had 10,870 spectators. Cristi Puiu’s Sieranevada, a contender at the 2016 Palme d’Or, gathered 25,241 viewers.

The distribution of Romanian films has become an issue after 1990 when many state-owned cinemas closed down, leaving local productions without a network to reach audiences in the country. Several more cinemas in Bucharest, which used to host the festivals where these films were alternatively screened, closed after a law banning activity of several outlets in high seismic risk buildings entered into force.

Romanian comedy #Selfie69 breaks local box-office record

editor@romania-insider.com