Over the past few years, we have had a few film evenings at AlmaCalma. Nothing elaborate: just us, sometimes a few friends, a good glass of wine or a cup of tea. After the film, we would stay outside for a while, looking at the stars and the fireflies. Sometimes, the conversations carried on the next morning over breakfast.
It was always such a simple pleasure. And, more than once, people told us that we should turn the barn into a cinema.
Perhaps many of us miss this kind of experience: open-air cinemas, films that stay with you, real encounters, and reactions that are not reduced to little icons on a screen, but lived in the moment, together with other people.
At first, we loved the idea, but it felt difficult to make happen. We also wondered whether anyone would really come all the way to AlmaCalma just to watch a film. So we asked ourselves the only honest question: would we go?
For us, the answer was yes. A good film outdoors, in a beautiful garden, in the middle of a village, would be enough to make us get in the car. Especially if the evening felt right: intimate, peaceful, relaxed, almost like being invited to a friend’s home. Elegant, but not formal. Good food would certainly help. Something cool to drink, too. We would hope to meet warm, like-minded people, perhaps even make new friends. We would also enjoy learning something new, or perhaps playing a game together as part of the evening. And if part of the money went directly to a good cause, the evening would matter even more.
This is how we began to take the idea of film evenings at AlmaCalma seriously.
Then came all the practical questions. What kind of films should we show? Art films, European films, films that make you think, films that leave you in a better mood? Would we be able to obtain the screening rights? As always, one question led to another.
But as our enthusiasm grew, things slowly began to fall into place. And none of this would have been possible without the generosity of some truly wonderful people. We hope they will not mind being mentioned here, as they are the kind of people who prefer to do good quietly, without drawing attention to themselves.
We are deeply grateful to Oana Furdea, who encouraged us and helped us see that this could be done. Without her, this story would not have begun. We are just as grateful to Monica Felea from Bad Unicorn, who offered us not only the right to screen three beautiful films, but also a kind of trust that moved and honoured us deeply.
We also want to thank our friends from WeddCamp, Kiko and Cristian Movanu, as well as BenQ România, who offered us a projector for these events.
And the good cause? The money raised from tickets for the three films offered by Bad Unicorn will go to Asociația Alma Vii, which supports the village through its projects. In this small, generous circle, everyone helps everyone else. And that brings us a great deal of joy and gratitude.
The images are from Chocolat at AlmaCalma, an event we organised together with Oana Crîngașu, Șomartin Chocolate and Șura Culinară. It was, in a way, our small pilot event: smiling people, a gourmet summer dinner, extraordinary kinds of chocolate unlike anything we had tasted before, a warm atmosphere, and a film that still inspires us.
It was everything we had hoped for, and perhaps even more than we had dared to imagine.
