Wild Romania, the most extensive documentary conducted in Romania, premiered at TIFF

After thousands of kilometers, hundreds of hours of filming and 10 years of pre-production, the largest photography and documentary film project dedicated to nature in our country, will be launched on the big screens, for the first time, in Unirii Square open- air in Cluj-Napoca, within the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF, July 23 – August 1), in the presence of the team.

The first stage of the Wild Romania project, initiated by photographer Dan Dinu, in collaboration with WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), took place between 2010 and 2013 when all 28 large reservations in Romania were photographed (national parks, natural parks , geo-parks and a Biosphere Reserve), the event ending with an outdoor photography exhibition, visited by over 50,000 people from major cities in the country.

Who are those who bring Wild Romania face to face with the spectators

Dan Dinu has been photographing nature for more than 20 years, dedicating half of this period to the Wild Romania project. He is a founding member and president of Forona (the Organization of Nature Photographers in Romania) and has collaborated with many environmental NGOs in nature conservation projects. From 2013 he started working in the field of documentary film, being part of both local productions and large-scale projects for NatGeo Wild or BBC.

Cosmin Dumitrache, a videographer with over 15 years of experience, joined the project in 2014 and together with Dan Dinu founded NTD Film, under whose tutelage he produced several films, some of them selected or awarded at film festivals around the world. Over time, he also filmed for large-scale productions broadcast by NatGeo Wild. He is a frequent collaborator of environmental NGOs, with which he has worked on various conservation and education projects.

The last stage of the project began in 2018 when Dan and Cosmin decided to crown all the work of these years with a major film, the only one of this magnitude. Wild Romania is the most complex documentary dedicated to nature in our country and promises the public filming for the first time for Romania, from spectacular and hard to reach regions, as well as unique stories about the country’s biodiversity.

“I consider myself a privileged man, not so much because I managed to complete such a project, but because I had the opportunity to see in detail the most spectacular natural places in the country. Although we have been to many countries, more or less exotic, home is here, in our Wild Romania. This film is a journey, one that will help us discover at least part of the natural wealth we have. Lost in everyday life, we forget to see, or even believe, that beyond cities, nature abounds. Our journey will be one of emotion, empathy, drama and a touch of comedy. This film, like the whole project, is for me a tribute to the nature from which I learned, which I enjoyed, which I understood I had to respect. ”, Said Dan Dinu, the initiator of the project and the director of the documentary Wild Romania.

“Look nature in the eye!” – a necessary challenge

The approach, unique for our country, enjoyed from the beginning the support of specialists from environmental NGOs, park and nature reserve administrators, as well as the entire community of photographers and nature enthusiasts.

“Through this film, through everything that is done through the Wild Romania project, the message springing from the love for the Nature of Romania of Dan Dinu and his colleagues goes to each of us to tell us and remind us that we are a rich country, a very rich country, in a way that not many countries can boast of. It depends only on us, the young at heart and the young now in age, if we learn to value and capitalize with great care and responsibility what Nature offers us. If we know how to behave with her, we will be pampered in the true sense of the word in this unique, Carpatho-Danubian landscape, adorned with all those wonders that Dan and Cosmin bring to our homes and souls. Wild Romania through Wild Romania,” said Erika Stanciu, founder of Propark – Foundation for Protected Areas.

After the national premiere at TIFF, the film Wild Romania will begin its journey around the country in August with a series of open-air screenings-events, some of them organized in nature reserves. The film will be released in cinemas in September, in over 50 cities and 90 cinemas.