Menu Close

Cvartal Launch @ Peasant Museum Cinema

On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Peasant Museum Cinema, at 18.00, will take place the launch of the documentary Cvartal – Cultural Heritage of Bucharest Neighbourhoods, as well as 10 mini-volumes dedicated to the housing complexes known as “Russian blocks”.

People know them as “Russian blocks”. They are found all over the country and their inhabitants say they were built by “Russians” or according to the “Russian” model. They are easily distinguishable from other housing estates: they are generally 2-, 3- or 4-storey blocks, most with a generous inner courtyard dominated by green spaces and children’s playgrounds. Their facades have a solemn and monumental air, with arcades and entrance portals.

Ten such blocks have been built in Bucharest. None are finished and all are experimental in architectural and urbanistic terms.

The documentary film, produced by Dash Film and the Studio Zona Association, and the ten volumes signed by historians Andrei Răzvan Voinea and Cristian Dumitrescu bring to the forefront the history and cultural importance of these 10 blocks built in Bucharest between 1945 and 1958, which have influenced and continue to influence the urban landscape, housing and daily life in Bucharest.

The project is dedicated to the people of Bucharest and especially to the inhabitants of these blocks, and the message we are conveying is that history is not about storing data and names of personalities from the past, but a complex system of relationships that determine our actions in the present.

Free admission event.

Full programme of screenings:

Wednesday 17 April, 18.00 – Gloria Hall
Friday 19 April, 8 pm – Parc Bazilescu
Monday 22 April, 7pm – Club Njoy (Muncii Square)
Tuesday 23 April, 6pm – Atlantic Restaurant (former Drumul Sării cinema)
Wednesday, 24 April, 7 pm – Tehnic Club
Friday, April 26, 8 pm, Cvartal Drumul Taberei

The event is organized by Dash Film in the framework of the project “Cvartal – Cultural Heritage of Neighbourhoods in Bucharest”, funded by EEA Grants 2014-2021 under the RO-CULTURA Programme.