Danger!

“Danger,” the character created by author Raluca Poenaru in the eponymous book that won the 2017 Arthur Trophy, is set to become a movie hero

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 26.05.2026, 12:12

“Danger,” the character created by author Raluca Poenaru in the eponymous book that won the 2017 Arthur Trophy, an award recognizing children’s literature written in Romania, is set to become a movie hero. The project, adapted and directed by Răzvan Marinescu and produced by Irina Enea and Adriana Bumbeș, has already won over international juries during development sessions at film festivals in Romania, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Winner of the Villa Kult Development Award and the Connecting Cottubus CocoLab, “Danger” officially launched its casting call with a fundraising campaign and a special event for children and parents on the second Sunday in May.

The team behind the film project “Danger” also held a casting call during this event, which featured games, music, and special guests. For eight hours, the event offered fun, dancing, and workshops for children and parents. In addition, in a dedicated mini-studio, participants could enjoy a professional photo shoot and sign up for the casting call for the upcoming film.

We met the film’s producers at this very first event, and they spoke enthusiastically about the project: Irina Enea

“This is the launch of the fundraising campaign for our children’s film, titled ‘Danger,’ which is set to be the first Romanian children’s film made in collaboration with their parents. Ever since meeting Raluca Poenaru, who is the author of the book—that was seven years ago—and because all the children who read it and with whom we interacted had a very positive reaction to the book and felt like they could already see a movie in their minds, we decided to give it a try.”

From here to actually making a film, however, the road is a bit longer, so we asked Adriana Bumbeş, the film’s other producer, how she felt things were going:

“We think things are going well. We’re starting the fundraising campaign and will run it for a year. We plan to shoot next summer, so the campaign started today; for a year, everyone can donate, everyone can visit our website www.pericolfilm.ro, because, as I said, this will be the first film made by children together with their parents. They can donate by visiting the film’s website, where we have many prizes available; they can participate in raffles—there are plenty of things to do.”

The character “Danger” is a natural-born rebel and absolutely loves his nickname. “Danger” is entered against his will into a creative contest, where he’s forced to team up with a group of girls. Convinced that this is the kind of activity typical of nerds, but without stressing too much about it, Danger is convinced he can get through anything, including this contest. As he gets more involved, Danger realizes that the girls really know how to do all sorts of things. That’s pretty much the premise of the book and, more recently, the movie.

We asked Adriana Bumbeş if there was a need for a Romanian children’s film:

“Absolutely. For 35 years, almost no children’s films have been made, and that’s why we took this initiative. You realize that we’re all children at heart, and we want to have a film for future generations—for our own children, first and foremost.”

And the launch event for the fundraising campaign turned out to be promising, as Irina Enea told us:

“I think it’s fantastic—the place is packed, there are participants in  every workshop—the Collage Workshop, the Mime Workshop, Face Painting, Balloons—in front of the stage, and I just saw people crying alongside us when a children’s choir sang songs from “Veronica” (ed. note: one of the first Romanian children’s films, made in 1972). So there is this need—the need for a bridge between generations, to fill this 35-year gap, as Adriana also mentioned, during which there weren’t enough children’s films.”

The film “Veronica” was seen by 3,620,176 viewers in Romanian theaters, according to a report on the number of viewers for Romanian films from their release dates through December 31, 2014, compiled by the National Center for Cinematography, and viewings are now continuing online.

And since, as part of this first event, attendees were encouraged to make an initial donation to secure entry into the raffle for surprise prizes, as well as to participate in certain activities, we too are joining the organizers’ call and inviting movie lovers to check the website so they can support this project, which is a welcome addition for all of us. (MI)