Despre noi
Tarkovskiana is a platform dedicated to world art cinema – a space for exploration, discovery, and passion for films that transcend the boundaries of time.
Why Tarkovskiana Exists
Art, in its purest essence, is a catalyst of collective and individual memory – a force that pulls us from the lethargy of ordinary perception and challenges us to rediscover the freshness of seeing.
Film, through its synthetic nature – blending image, sound, and narrative – becomes the ideal vehicle for this renewal of perception. The great masters of cinema offer us, through their work, windows into manifestations of reality we might otherwise have ignored, teaching us to see beyond the surface of things. A well-composed frame can become a meditation on eternity; an ingenious montage can transport us into universal consciousness.
Education through film transcends the mere transmission of information, becoming an initiation into the art of seeing and feeling the depth of life. From this conviction about cinema’s transformative power, Tarkovskiana was born.
The Origin of the Name. How It All Began
The project bears the name of the great Russian artist Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) – director, thinker, poet of the screen. The author of masterpieces that changed film history: Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror, Stalker, Nostalghia, and The Sacrifice. An artist who inspired and continues to inspire filmmakers and artists around the world. New generations are discovering him today.
The name Tarkovskiana was born in 2014, in Chișinău, immediately after the meeting between Nicolae Ghibu – screenwriter and director, the only Romanian to have interviewed the great artist, a discovery made in Romania after 47 years – and Ionuț Dumitrescu, producer and director, the creator of Tarkovskiana.
During Tarkovsky’s lifetime, the term “Tarkovskiana” encompassed everything that opposed his creation: censorship, bureaucratic obstacles, his expulsion from the USSR. Today, the name means the exact opposite – a celebration of creation, artistic freedom, and the cultural legacy he left to the world.
What began as a cultural initiative centred on film screenings and public events in cities across Romania and the Republic of Moldova – Bucharest, Chișinău, Iași, Craiova, Otopeni, Onești – has grown into the online platform you discover today: www.tarkovskiana.com.
A Different Way of Seeing Film
Tarkovskiana is not just another streaming service. It is a different way of seeing film. In an era when our screens are flooded with industrially produced content, selected by algorithms and interrupted by advertising, art cinema risks becoming invisible – not because it has lost its relevance, but because the noise of disposable entertainment drowns it out. Tarkovskiana exists precisely as a response to this reality: a carefully curated collection chosen for each film’s artistic value and enduring message, not for consumption trends. Our selection does not blindly follow prize lists – the great international festivals, from Cannes to Venice and Berlin, have their own history marked by political and commercial compromises. Tarkovskiana’s criterion is different: the authenticity of the work, the depth of vision, and the film’s capacity to transform the viewer, not to passively entertain. Here you will discover rare and restored titles, many never before shown in the Romanian cultural space, alongside a library of exclusive materials – rare interviews, memoirs, screenplays, journals – resources you will not find on any other platform.
Our Mission
To bring world art cinema closer to the public, offering access to exceptional cinematographic works, exclusive materials, and a viewing experience without compromise.
Tarkovskiana’s mission unfolds along two directions:
Preserving Andrei Tarkovsky’s legacy – acquiring, translating, and publishing in Romanian his speeches, lectures, the complete interviews, directing lessons, screenplays, diaries, and other writings.
Disseminating art cinema – screening films by Andrei Tarkovsky and other filmmakers influenced by his work, the cultural recommendations the great artist made throughout his 25-year career (1961–1986), and a selection of Romanian auteurs.
Tarkovskiana conducts continuous, in-depth research, driven by the conviction that many aspects of Tarkovsky’s work and legacy remain unknown to the broader public, particularly in the Romanian cultural space.
What Tarkovskiana Has Generated in Society
Over more than 10 years of activity, the project has generated genuine and sustained interest in art cinema in Romania, influencing the general public, academia, and institutions.
2015 – An Andrei Tarkovsky DVD collection (national daily Adevărul). A dedicated course at Calea Victoriei Foundation. A publishing first: the Romanian edition of Sculpting in Time (Nemira Publishing) – No. 1 in sales at the Gaudeamus Book Fair.
2016 – Andrei Tarkovsky’s works included in the competition filmography at UNATC “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest.
2017–2018 – Andrei Tarkovsky retrospectives broadcast on TVR 2 and TVR 3 (a first for Romanian television).
Consistent presence in national media: cultural programmes on Romanian public television (TVR 1 and TVR 3), print press (Jurnalul Național), Radio România, Radio România Cultural, and online.
Founder
Ionuț Dumitrescu (b. 3 November 1983, Bucharest), producer and director, is the creator of the Tarkovskiana project. Since 2014, he has devoted continuous work to research, organising cultural events, and developing the online platform, with the aim of making art cinema accessible to the widest possible audience. He has led presentations and public discussions in cinemas, cultural centres, and libraries across Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and has been featured in cultural programmes on Romanian public television (TVR 1 and TVR 3), Radio România, and Radio România Cultural. His research has led to remarkable discoveries, including the identification of the only Romanian to have interviewed Andrei Tarkovsky – a testimony recovered after nearly half a century of oblivion, presented as a premiere in Jurnalul Național.
Discover the Collection
Enter the world of art cinema. Explore films that changed the history of film, exclusive materials, and a continuously growing collection.
