Cinema Europa · Susțin
Susțin
Projects/ Culture

Ongoing initiative · Since 2024

Cinema Europa

A neighbourhood cinema, brought back into the life of the city.

Children and families in the Cinema Europa auditorium

About the project

Since October 2024, Susțin has coordinated the revival of Cinema Europa. Film programming, meetings with creators and the involvement of volunteers are rebuilding the public's relationship with the auditorium on Calea Moșilor. Cinema Europa is also a place of hands-on learning: event organisation, communication and working with audiences.

RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES

150,000 attendances at screenings; hundreds of screenings; approximately 100 volunteers involved. Figures provided by Costin in September 2026.

Our contribution

Management, cultural programming, communication and community coordination.

Who we have worked with

Colorbitor: technical contribution to projection and sound. Lorin and Andrada Smarandoiu: the renovation plan. Rock FM and G4Media: communication partners. 

A place back on the city's cultural map

Less than two years ago, the last neighbourhood cinema in Bucharest was a badly deteriorated building, with an almost empty auditorium and a real risk of being lost for good. After Susțin took it over in October 2024, the venue on Calea Moșilor entered a rapid process of revival: a steady programme, themed weekends, meetings with creators and a community of volunteers who keep the place alive night after night.

The press documented the result one year on: over 400 films screened and roughly 100,000 viewers, in an auditorium turning 90. We did not renovate first and open afterwards — we opened, built the audience, and only then began the rebuild, through the #LocCuLoc campaign.

400+ films screened
100.000 viewers in the first year
90 years of the auditorium, in 2025
~100 volunteers involved

Figures from press coverage of the 90th anniversary, November 2025. They refer to the first year after the takeover and are not added to the cumulative attendance total reported above.

The cinema's story, in pictures.

The auditorium, the foyer, the street

Young audience at the entrance to Cinema Europa, on Calea Moșilor
A full foyer before a screening A full auditorium at a screening The Cinema Europa façade and the tables outside the entrance The Cinema Europa team in front of the entrance

Photographs from the work of Cinema Europa. Photo credits to be added before publication.

What we learned

The programme brings people in, not the renovation

The auditorium filled up before it was repaired. A consistent calendar and curating with personality did more than new seats would have.

The community keeps the place alive

Volunteers are not occasional help: they are the cinema's human infrastructure and, for many of them, the first place where they learn to organise events.

Continuity calls for investment

The audience's return made the next stage possible: rebuilding the auditorium seat by seat, through#LocCuLoc.

In the press

News.ro · Cinema Europa will be rebuilt seat by seat Libertatea · The long road to saving Cinema Europa Adevărul · The last neighbourhood cinema in Bucharest turns 90 Revista Biz · How the last neighbourhood cinema was revived G4Media · 90 years old and reborn, #LocCuLoc IQads · How a cinema the world forgot is reborn
Sources and notes for review

The exact period covered by the attendance total and the number of screenings are to be fixed. The 2025 partnerships are historical; we do not assume they are all active in 2026.

Origin in the draft: current site.

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