In the Romanian exhibition, a team of Lumière brothers' employees screened several films, including the famous L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat.

In the Romanian exhibition, a team of Lumière brothers' employees screened several films, including the famous L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat.

[10] In a letter to doctor Marinescu from 29 July 1924, speaking about these films, Auguste Lumière wrote: "I've seen your scientific reports about the usage of cinematograph in studies of nervous illnesses, when I was still receiving La Semaine Médicale.

[12] An investigation regarding the beginnings of non-actualities Romanian fiction films, published in an insert of the newspaper Cuvântul (The Word) in December 1933, mentions that in 1911 an "arrangement of a play for the cinema", Păpușa (The Doll), was produced by the cameramen Nicolae Barbelian and Demichelli in collaboration with the head of the actors' troupe, Marinescu.

A "film" made in haste, with a troupe of second-hand actors and with the help of General Constantinescu, who commanded a division at Pitești, from whom he had obtained the extras needed for the war scenes, "Războiul din 1877-1878" was screened a day before by the prefect of the capital's police, who decided that it did not correspond with historic fact.

Consequently, the film was confiscated and destroyed, Raymond Pellerin was declared persona non grata and he left for Paris, while the "collaborationist" general saw himself moved to another garrison as a means of discipline.

The group received strong backing from government authorities, with the army and all necessary equipment being placed at its disposal, plus military advisers (possibly including Pascal Vidrașcu).

Despite all its shortcomings as the theatrical game of the actors, the errors of an army of extras uncontrolled by direction which provoked unintended laughter in some scenes and rendered dramatically limp those of the beginning, the film was well received by spectators, being shown for several weeks.

Through this realization, through the dimensions of its theme, through the distribution method chosen, through the genuine artistic intentions, through its professional editing (for the time), the creation of this film can be considered Romania's first step in the art of cinematography.

Collaborating with the troupe of Marioara Voiculescu, which included actors sympathetic to Popescu (C. Radovici, Ion Manolescu and G. Storin), they managed to put on the market the following films: Amorul unei prințese (The Love Affair of a Princess) (1913), Răzbunarea (Revenge) (1913), Urgia cerească (The Sky-borne Disaster) (1913), Cetatea Neamțului (The Neamț Citadel) (1914), Spionul (The Spy) (1914), with all but the penultimate proving to be well below expectations.

New studios endowed with good equipment and specialists well trained in the new technology appeared, directors and actors known to the public at large were attracted to work in the new industry, as were renowned screenwriters.

In 1920, a film studio, Soarele (The Sun), began producing Pe valurile fericirii (On the Waves of Happiness), which starred the Hungarian actress Lya De Putti, and the Romanian actors Maria Filotti, Ion Manolescu, Gheorghe Storin, Alexandre Mihalesco, and Tantzi Cutava-Barozzi.

The film, shot on locations such as Mogoșoaia Palace, Pasărea Monastery, and Minovici Vila, was based on a script by Victor Beldiman, in turn written after a novel by Radu Rosseti.

It starred Dorina Heller, Elvira Popescu, Ion Iancovescu, Mitzi Vecera, Tantzi Elvas, Ecaterina Vigny, Leon Lefter, Petre Sturdza, Petrescu Muscă and premiered on 30 December 1923.

The young actor-director Jean Georgescu found an investor in the year 1925 who invested his savings in the production of a film called Năbădăile Cleopatrei (Cleopatra's Caprices).

In the same fashion, Jean Georgescu produced the film Milionar pentru o zi (Millionaire for a Day) (1925) in a Bucharest cabaret, since the owner wanted to advertise the building.

Jean Mihail directed Lia (1927), on a screenplay by Mircea Filotti financed by a German businessman who wanted to fulfill the wish of his wife, well-known actress Lilly Flohr.

The Clipa-Film studio produced, with this form of financing, the films Iadeș (The Wishbone) (1926), Iancu Jianu (1927), Haiducii (The Haiducs) (1929), Ciocoii (The Boyars) (1930) and, later, Insula Șerpilor (Snake Island) (1934), the penultimate one featuring an attempt at sound, and the last one being a talkie.

The Romanian poet and aristocract Elena Văcărescu said in 1930 about the importance of the cinematic art: "Having great power at its disposal, the cinema should work hard...toward the greatest good of peoples and what brings them together, that is, toward peace".

It was here that Ion Șahighian filmed O noapte de pomină (An Unforgettable Night), from a script by Tudor Mușatescu, starring George Timică and Dina Cocea, in 1939.

[12] During the war, the ONC was placed at the disposal of the Army General Staff, the majority of cameramen being sent to the front, and technicians being employed exclusively for the needs of wartime propaganda.

The film O noapte furtunoasă was directed by Jean Georgescu, based on the eponymous comedy by Ion Luca Caragiale; the assistant directors were Ionel Iliescu, Virgil Stoenescu, I. Marinescu, and P. Băleanu; the cameraman was Gerard Perrin (from Paris); the sound engineers were A. Bielisici, V. Cantunari, and G. Mărăi; editing was done by Ivonne Hérault (from Paris) and Lucia Anton; makeup by the Sturh couple (of Berlin); choreography by Emil Bobescu; music by Paul Constantinescu; set design by Ștefan Norris; storyboards and costumes by Aurel Jiquidi; and production direction by Ion Cantacuzino.

The film starred Alexandru Giugaru, Maria Maximilian, Florica Demion, Radu Beligan, Iordănescu Bruno, George Demetru, Ion Baroi, George Ciprian, Miluță Ghiorghiu, Leontina Ioanid, Doina Missir, Iuliana Sym, Cornelia Teodosiu, Elena Bulandra, Vasiliu Falti, Lică Rădulescu, Ion Stănescu, Nicolae Teodoru, O. Rocos, Iancu Constantinescu and Jean Moscopol.

In 1944, a Romanian-Italian company, Cineromit, assigned the production of the film Visul unei nopți de iarnă (A Winter Night's Dream) to director Jean Georgescu; the script was from the play by Tudor Mușatescu.

Also important was the 1946, production Pădurea îndrăgostiților (The Lovers' Forest), produced at Doina-Film, on which the ONC technical crew worked, with the director and cameraman being Cornel Dumitrescu.

This situation caused the Committee for Cinematography to be formed on 7 June 1950 alongside the Council of Ministers, and inside this institution the Film Distribution Network Directorate was established.

The purpose of this institution was to promote a single policy regarding Romania's movie theatres, "the control and guidance of political-ideological work with the cinema, the showing of films based on the political-technical demands of the various stages of the construction of socialism", as well as to craft the economical-financial plan to be fulfilled.

However, the public was not denied a chance to see some of the great works of cinema outside the European socialist bloc, including works of Italian neorealism and its successors (Rome, open city, Bicycle Thieves, and Rocco e i suoi fratelli), Judgment at Nuremberg, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, a series of Westerns, Gone with the Wind (United States), and many others from France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, Japan, and China.

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Corneliu Porumboiu won the Caméra d'Or best-first-feature award for 12:08 East of Bucharest and Cătălin Mitulescu who directed The Way I Spent the End of the World competed in the Un Certain Regard section.

[23] In 2010, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (aka Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier) directed by Florin Șerban won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival[24] In 2013 the movie Child's Pose (Pozitia copilului) directed by Călin Peter Netzer won the Golden Bear award at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.