Welcome to Virtual Cinema of Eastern Europe! Since we cannot gather in theaters anymore, we will bring to you unforgettable cinematic stories that will quench your curiosity and longing for far away lands. Our program offers a retrospective of the Romanian Film Festival in Seattle, together with other Eastern European Films that are not accessible to the large audience.
When you buy a ticket from FILMABEE, the net proceeds will help us cover the cost of the online platform and distribution rights for the films. You will help the Romanian Film Festival in Seattle survive despite the dire times, and continue a community- building tradition started seven years ago. THANK YOU for supporting the Romanian Film Festival in Seattle!
FILMABEE is a platform designed and curated by Seattle-based film director Bogdan Darev, to o bring you an innovative, interactive approach to watching films online. You can also watch any film whenever works best for you.
Join ARCS Executive Director and manager of the Romanian Film Festival, Otilia Baraboi, and her special guests from Romanian and the US, for "Morning Coffee and Films", our new virtual film discussions series. Go to FILMABEE to join the discussion.
This project was financed by private donations and a special grant for COVID Relief awarded by 4Culture. We are grateful for their support!
Past events
Morning Coffee and Films- Special Focus: Coping with Film Festivals Cancellations
When
May 23, 2020 at 10:30 AM - 23 May. 2020 at 11:30 AM
Where
What
Join us for an informal conversation on "Parking" and "Of Snails and Men", with a special focus: Coping with Film Festivals Cancellations, featuring Tudor Giurgiu, filmmaker and president of Transilvania Film Festival.
Founded in 2002, in the town of Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania IFF has grown rapidly to become the most important film-related event in Romania and one of the most spectacular annual events in the region. It is a member of the Alliance of Central and Eastern European Film Festivals (CENTEAST) and it is supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme. In 2011, Transilvania IFF was accredited by the FIAPF, which places it among the 40 most important festivals in the world.
Morning Coffee and Films- Special Focus:Romanian Cinema and Roma Rights Activism
When
May 30, 2020 at 10:30 AM - 30 May. 2020 at 11:30 AM
Where
What
Join us for a morning discussion on Radu Jude's Golden Bear winner "Aferim!". Our special focus will be Romanian Cinema and Roma Rights Activism, with our former guest speakers at the Romanian Film Festival: Robert Horton (film critic), Magda Matache (Roma rights activist and scholar, director of the Roma Program at Harvard FXB) and Cristiana Grigore (research scholar and founder of the Roma Peoples Project at Columbia University).
Explore these resources to find out more about the topic:
• Read an article co-authored by Magda Matache about the wave of racism affecting the Roma population in Europe during the pandemic: The Shameful Resurgence of Violent Scapegoating in a Time of Crisis in Open Democracy.
• Read We Don't Speak to Them to learn more about the mission of the Roma Peoples Project and their vital role in bringing awareness of the underlying racism affecting the Roma worldwide.
• Read Robert Horton's article on Aferim! in The Film Comment.
Morning Coffee and Films - Special Focus: Collective Memory in the Works of Eastern European Female Directors
When
June 6, 2020 at 10:30 AM - 06 Jun. 2020 at 11:30 AM
Where
What
Drink your morning coffee in the company of our guests from Romania and Bulgaria, filmmakers and producers Oana Giurgiu and Maya Vitkova. Our conversation will have a special focus: Collective Memory in the Works of Eastern European Female Directors, taking as a departure point Giurgiu's documentary "Aliyah DaDa" (presented at the Romanian Film Festival in 2016) and Vitkova's "Viktoria" (presented at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2014).
Read “Viktoria”: A Great Film About Women, by a Woman, by Richard Brody to find out more about the topic.
Morning Coffee and Films with Bogdan Darev
When
June 20, 2020 at 10:30 AM - 20 Jun. 2020 at 11:30 AM
Where
ONLINE
What
Drink your morning coffee in the company of our guest, local producer and director Bogdan Darev. We will discuss his on camera meeting with his father 23 years after seeing each other for the last time in Bulgaria. The moment is beautifully captured in his documentary THERE available to watch on FILMABEE.
You can join the discussion on our integrated video conference page.
Thank you for supporting a local initiative that creates meaningful dialogue between various East European communities through film and art!
Morning Coffee and Films: Georgian Cinema with Maryna Ajaja
When
July 18, 2020 at 10:30 AM - 18 Jul. 2020 at 11:30 AM
Where
Online
What
Join us for another discussion on Eastern European with special guest, Maryna Ajaja, Seattle-based poet and SIFF programmer.
We will discuss the Georgian film "In Bloom", as well as common themes and aesthetics in Eastern European cinema. Critics have praised this film for the "languid camera work of veteran Romanian New Wave cinematographer Oleg Mutu", bringing forth similarities between the two cinematographies.
You can watch "In Bloom" on our carefully curated platform Filmabee and support our cross-cultural mission:
https://www.filmabee.com/inbloom