RO Days at the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the key industry spaces in the city of Cluj-Napoca this week for professionals looking at Romanian cinema, European co-production and new audiovisual opportunities.
Part of the 25th edition of TIFF, RO Days | Industry Events brings together producers, distributors, sales agents, film commissioners, festival programmers and other audiovisual professionals for meetings, pitching sessions, panels and masterclasses. More than a showcase, it is a working space for anyone looking at Romania, the region and the wider European co-production landscape.
Here are five reasons why industry professionals should be there.
1. Romania has a real co-production value in the European funding landscape
For international producers, Romania is not only a creative territory. It can also be a strategic co-production partner.
Creative Europe MEDIA still classifies Romania as a low audiovisual capacity country, specifically within LCC Group A. This matters because, in the European co-development framework, the European dimension of a project is evaluated partly through collaboration between countries with different market sizes, including partners from low-capacity countries.
That does not mean that a Romanian partner automatically brings extra financing. But it does mean that working with Romania can strengthen the structure of a European co-development application when the collaboration is real, balanced and creatively justified.
For producers looking at future MEDIA applications, RO Days is a good place to understand who is active in the Romanian market, which companies are developing projects with international potential, and where meaningful partnerships could begin.
2. The projects are still open for conversation
One of the biggest advantages of RO Days is timing. The projects presented here are not finished titles looking only for visibility. Many of them are still in development, financing, post-production or early positioning.
Transilvania Pitch Stop presents ten projects to international professionals, followed by one-on-one meetings with creative teams. Works in Progress offers a first look at seven Romanian films in post-production. Drama Room focuses on Romanian fiction series, while Book to Screen opens a bridge between Romanian literature and audiovisual adaptation.
For producers, buyers, sales agents and festival programmers, this is the useful stage. It is early enough to get involved, but advanced enough to understand the tone, ambition and production potential of the projects. That makes RO Days more than a networking stop. It becomes a place where future collaborations can actually start.
3. The program deals with the real issues behind Romanian cinema
RO Days is not built only around inspirational talks. A strong part of the program is dedicated to the concrete questions that shape the Romanian industry today.
The panel What’s Cooking, Romania? looks at the new Cinema Law, the cash rebate scheme and support for minority co-productions. These are not small details for international partners. They are the elements that determine how Romania can work inside larger European financing structures and how attractive the country can become for future collaborations.
The conversation also extends beyond Romania, with national film center representatives from Slovenia and the Republic of Moldova discussing how institutions are adapting to a changing audiovisual market. This gives the program a regional dimension and helps place Romania inside a wider European industry conversation.
4. It is not only about film anymore
The audiovisual industry is no longer divided into clean categories, and RO Days reflects that.
The program moves from film financing to European series, from screenwriters’ rights to music supervision, from literary adaptation to artificial intelligence. The SYNC section brings composers and music supervisors into the conversation, while the AI presentations look at tools available to independent filmmakers and their use in film and animation production.
This is important because producers today are not only looking for money. They are looking for rights strategies, development partners, music solutions, series opportunities, adaptation material, new tools and ways to make projects travel. RO Days brings many of these conversations into the same space, without making the program feel too broad or disconnected.
5. It is a focused place to meet the right people
Large markets are useful, but they can also be overwhelming. RO Days has a different advantage: it is international, but still focused.
With more than 250 industry professionals expected in Cluj, the program is big enough to create real opportunities and small enough to make conversations feel possible. The guest list also gives the event weight. Ada Solomon, producer and Chair of the Board of the European Film Academy, opens the program with a keynote on the future of European film financing. Roman Gutek, one of Europe’s most respected art-house film distributors, and Irish actor Aidan Gillen, known internationally for Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders and The Wire, lead masterclasses. The program also features Corneliu Porumboiu, one of the leading names of the Romanian New Wave, alongside British director Ben Wheatley, known for Kill List, High-Rise and Rebecca, and Ornella Muti, one of the most acclaimed actresses in European cinema.
For Romanian professionals, this is a chance to connect with international experience without leaving the local context. For international guests, it is a way to understand Romania from the inside: its producers, institutions, projects, talent and current challenges.
That is what makes RO Days relevant. It is not only a festival industry sidebar. It is a place where Romanian cinema meets European strategy, where regional projects can find partners, and where professionals can leave with something more useful than a general impression: a contact, an idea, a project, or the beginning of a co-production conversation.
