01-06-2020

Romania Resumes Film Production and Allows Open-air Screenings

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    BUCHAREST: Film and audiovisual production will resume in Romania after the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health published in the Official Gazette their regulations for preventing the spread of the SARS- CoV-2 in film production on 30 May 2020. On 29 May, President Klaus Iohannis announced that open air and drive-in screenings will also be allowed starting 1 June 2020.

    According to the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health, film production has a medium to high potential for the transmission of SARS- CoV-2. As a consequence the measures range from wearing masks and checking the temperature before entering the film set to gradual resuming of shooting according to the local epidemiological situation.

    The number of people on set should be limited and scenes with more than 10 people are allowed only if they respect the physical distance and limited physical contact between actors.

    Long scenes involving actors older than 65 or from health risk groups should be avoided. If a team member contracts respiratory diseases he/she will be isolated from the shooting team.

    Foreign citizens must prove when entering Romania that they have tested negative for SARS- CoV-2; a second test will be done in two to five days after entering the country and it will be repeated in case of a respiratory disease.

    Romania is gradually easing restrictions starting 1 June 2020 while maintaining the state of alert. Open air performances, including film and drive-in screenings and private or public festivals, will be allowed if there is a minimum two meters of distance between seats and if no more than 500 people (wearing masks) are in the audience. For drive-in film screenings the passengers of a car should be members of the same family.

    Starting 1 June 2020 Romanians are also allowed to go to the beach and sit in the outside areas of restaurants, however bars, restaurants, cinemas and shopping malls remain closed until further notice.

    There have been several meetings between the Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, Deputy Prime Minister, ministers and representatives of the film industry since the Romanian filmmakers' appeal to the authorities to save the film Tudor Giurgiu, source: Facebook profilesector, which is severely affected by the pandemic. The authorities invited to the same table the filmmakers, the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Film Centre (CNC) and it seems that things are on track.

    “We felt that there is an understanding and a wish to help solve the pressing needs of the film industry: the safe resumption of film production and film events, the promotion in the Parliament of a new Film Law, the resuming of the cash rebate scheme, the unlocking at the Ministry of Finances of the sums due to the Film Fund, the need to modernise the Romanian Film Centre and to bring it closer to the filmmakers’ needs, as well as finding support for the distributors and the cinemas, which are profoundly affected by the pandemic. If only 50% of these problems is somewhat solved, it would be excellent,” said the director, producer and head of the Transilvania IFF Tudor Giurgiu, who took part in the discussions.