FILMIKON International Film Festival
The inaugural edition of FILMIKON was held in Bucharest in 2024
Corina Sabău, 08.02.2025, 14:00
The second edition of the FILMIKON International Film Festival has come up with a series of productions that have, throughout the years, been awarded by the ecumenical and inter-confessional juries as part of more than 30 film festivals worldwide. Also, the festival proposes a dialogue about Christian and human values, starting off from those productions.
The inaugural edition of FILMIKON was held in Bucharest in 2024, yet the second edition was extended, being held in Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, and The Vatican. FILMIKON is part of the Jubilee Year 2025 program. Ileana Bârsan is a film critic and the director of FILMIKON. We sat down and spoke to Ileana about the significance of the Ecumenical Jury Award, granted to feature films in the competition of such international film festivals worldwide, like the festival in Cannes or the one in Berlin.
Ileana Bârsan: “The name of the award may lead us into thinking that the productions in point have a close connection with religion, yet the productions do not target the people who have a close connection with religion alone. The panel of the Ecumenical Jury is made of pundits jointly nominated by SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication) and Interfilm (an international inter-confessional film organization) and the prize is an independent one, awarded to productions of these international festivals laying specific emphasis on human and Christian values, values that early into this century we kind of lost. These are films that attempt to make us a little bit more mindful towards the others whom, since we’re running out of time and since we fall short of interest and generosity, we sometime lose. Films that come up with their own individual stories but which, in the long run, convey a universal message. It was the FILMIKON festival’s eventual aim, that of bringing productions awarded by the judging panels that are particular about these themes of nuances, films we can offer to the Romanian public, thus generating discussions, even concerns that can go beyond the cinema halls. It is very important that these film stories lay special emphasis on serious issues and topics about which we learn in the newsreel programs. That is why, through these films, we somehow begin asking ourselves questions, looking at ourselves a little bit, even wondering what we can do here, in our community and suchlike. Because, globally speaking, or I don’t know… when it comes to politics in general, we are a bunch of small-timers and cannot control these things, but we can control what is close to us. “
For the first time since 2024, the Transylvania International Film festival, TIFF, has established an Ecumenical Jury. Romanian film critic Ileana Bârsan was one of the members of the panel. ‘Summer Brother’ directed by Joren Molter, the disturbing story of two brothers, awarded with the Ecumenical Jury Prize at TIFF 2024 and also the adventure movie ‘I, Captain” (Io, Capitano, directed by Matteo Garrone), winner of the SIGNIS Prize, Venice 2023, a contemporary odyssey that overcomes the dangers of the desert, the horrors of Libyan detention centers and the dangers of the sea, were included in the second edition of the FILMIKON International Festival.
FILMIKON also presented several Romanian films that address current issues or tell the stories of real characters, which can serve as models. Here is Ileana Bârsan, FILMIKON director, with details: “’Where elephants go’ is a Romanian film made by Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru, a film that received a Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury, at TIFF 2024. It is the story of a child around whom some adults gravitate, who are more dazed and confused in their own life than the child himself. This kid, who has a medical problem, is full of hope and serenity and so full of life that he somehow manages to transform also the lives of others. The festival program also included the short film “Dead Cat” (directed by Ana-Maria Comănescu), which won the SIGNIS Award, TIFF 2024. “A mountain of love”, another Romanian film shown at FILMIKON, a very recent film, completed at the end of 2024, is directed by the priest Dan Suciu and has Bogdan Slăvescu as director of photography. It is a tribute film to a slightly different priest, who unfortunately died, Florentin Crihălmeanu. He was also the Greek-Catholic bishop of Cluj-Gherla between 2002 and 2021. They say he was an atypical priest, not only because he was very connected with people, especially the young, who considered him a spiritual leader, but he was also very passionate about mountaineering, so the film tells the story of his relationship with people and the mountain. And the last Romanian film from the FILMIKON 2 edition, made in 2019, “The Cardinal” by Nicolae Mărgineanu, is a film about the life of bishop Iuliu Hossu. A Greek-Catholic cardinal who meant a lot to the history of Romania, a hero of the Great Union, who was imprisoned in Sighet prison and ended up in forced residence. We are talking about a martyr’s path, unfortunately not unique in that period.”
The Christus cine-concert and the film The Cardinal were also presented at the Vatican, as part of the program of the Jubilee Year 2025, on the occasion of the Social Communications Jubilee, held from January 24-26. The establishment of a jubilee year is a Catholic tradition of more than 700 years, which is repeated once every 25 years. (EN, LS)
