The eco-art festival Eforie Colorat will take place between July 4 – September 4 at the Summer Garden creative hub in Eforie Sud. The festival program includes over 200 events such as film screenings, concerts, art exhibitions, performances, workshops and debates, all with free entrance.

Being launched in 2021 as a program dedicated to tourists, members of the local community, environmental groups and the artistic community, Eforie Colorat is now at its 2nd edition.

“The oldest resort on the Romanian seaside relies on culture in the rehabilitation process. We open alternative spaces where creative communities meet their audiences and use art and dialogue as ways to question the society we live in,” says Emil Cristian Ghiță, co-founder of the festival.

Through the activities within the festival, the organizers aim to bring into discussion the importance of nature in this age of technology and, at the same time, to promote local and international artists from all fields.

Another goal on the festival’s agenda is restoring life to the former Summer Garden, the largest cultural space on the Black Sea coast. According to Emil Cristian Ghiță, Eforie Colorat “focuses on the revitalization of abandoned cultural spaces, providing a current model of good practice, absolutely necessary for the development of communities and local tourism.”

The special guest of this edition is British journalist Charlie Ottley, known for the documentary series Flavors of Romania and Wild Carpathia, who will talk about the ethical and coherent exploitation of the tourism potential, sustainable development and growth opportunities by means of culture.

The festival will kick off on Monday, July 4, with an acoustic concert – Alexandra (Focșa) & Rosta Man Acoustic Night, followed by the screening of the short documentary You, With the Moustache! (dir. Răzvan Oprescu).

This year’s film program comprises over 200 short films, animations and features, Romanian or international, which will be screened over the course of 50 evenings.

Tuesdays will host Short Film Breaks’ previous selections awarded in the international competitions, whereas Wednesdays will be dedicated to Romanian films.

On Thursdays, the big screen will be taken by international animations, and on Fridays and Saturdays, the public will get to enjoy European films and documentaries offered by the partner cultural centers. Blockbuster movies such as Dune or Bohemian Rhapsody will be screened on Sundays.

Visual and musical arts are also at the center of the festival. Going by E T A J on Wheels, Bucharest-based gallery E T A J artist-run Space relocates to Eforie Sud for the summer where it will host the works of contemporary artists Mircea Modreanu, Lucian Sandu Milea and Ana Cristina Toma.

Artist Irina Botea will explore different forms of ​​performance and experimental video art, and festival goers will have the chance to test their crafts skills at different creative workshops, such as pottery or recycling workshops, the latter being dedicated to children.

Musical artists Diana Miron and Laurențiu Coțac will turn natural sounds captured on the seashore, in the Lake Techirghiol natural reserve, into experimental music.

AggressionON/OFF: public, private, natural

The event proposes a series of debates, seminars and performative interventions that focus on stopping aggression against nature. Artists and activists such as Lia Perjovschi, Dan Perjovschi and Cristian Neagoe will tackle topics such as geopolitical changes, consumerist practices and environmental responsibility.

THE SEASIDE MUSEUM. Restoration of the Carmen Sylva Archives

The Seaside Museum maps the history of the resort from the end of the 19th century to the communist and post-communist era. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between artists and theoreticians, anthropologists, biologists experts in endemic flora, specialists in archiving, digitization and conservation of heritage documents.

Eforie Colorat takes place between July 4 – September 4. For the full program, visit the festival website.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.