Programs & Events
Future and past programs and events of American Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) Arizona
Future events
Romanian Film Festival Arizona 2022
After our first virtual edition in 2021, this year we will be present both in theater and online. Hosted by Majestic Tempe 7, we will feature 3 movies over 2 days, November 19-20.
The cinema experiences will be supplemented by a stellar film selection exploring new Romanian, Hungarian, Ukrainian and other European productions, online, November 11-27!
Stay tuned as we announce more titles in our lineup!
The Romanian American National Heritage Award
The Romanian American National Heritage Award is an annual competition for high school students with Romanian heritage or background. Applicants of non-Romanian descent may qualify, as long as their work and experience relate to Romania or the Romanian community in the US. The deadline to apply: October 15.
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Past events
Arizona Romanian Film Festival 2021
Arizona Romanian Film Festival 2020/Canceled
Mail-Order Family, Saturday May 14, 2022
Join us for a discussion with author Irina VanPatten about her latest book “Mail-Order Family”.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZItcO6srjwtGtIHYzeQRdLP6bFEB…
Moderator: Ileana Marin
About the book: Mail-Order Family, a proud 2nd Place Award Winner at The Spring 2022 BookFest (Book Festival) in the Humor/Non-Fiction/True Stories/Memoir Category is an unlikely love story that doesn’t follow the usual rules, and even defies geography. It’s a story about difficult times but also one of triumph and hope, even when people are literally two worlds apart!
Read more about Irina VanPatten’s book on her website: https://irinavanpatten.com/mail-order-family
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mail…/dp/1598493108/ref=sr_1_1…
Read more about our guests on our website: https://www.arcsproject.org/project/mail-order-family/
Event organized by ARCS in partnership with Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), Immigration Research Forum, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, and Romanians of DC, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY/USA
Tethered to the Unexpected, Saturday, Apr 16, 2022
Join us for a poetry reading and discussion with poet Roxana Cazan about her latest book “Tethered to the Unexpected”.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZIvc…
Guest speakers: Clara Burghelea and Domnica Rădulescu
Moderator: Otilia Baraboi
About the book:
Tethered to the Unexpected is a lyrical treat despite its grim truth. Roxana Cazan offers a loving, lasting tribute to familial bonds though “some days the windows / don’t withstand the rain.” […] Beyond a body in decline, Roxana’s unassuming voice explores her grandmother’s life, tethered to her own, attempting to close the “distance / between home and crib.”– Ken Hada, author of Contour Feathers
Read more about Roxana Cazan’s book on her website: https://roxanalcazan.weebly.com/books.html
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Tethered-Unexpected…/dp/B09PP34HWB
Read more about our guests on our website: https://www.arcsproject.org/…/tethered-to-the-unexpected/
Event organized by ARCS in partnership with Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), Immigration Research Forum, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, and Romanians of DC, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY/USA
Writing on the Walls at Night, A Journey from Romania to the US, Saturday, March 26 2022
Join us for poetry reading and discussion with poet Claudia Serea about her latest book “Writing on the Walls at Night”
Register HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZIuceuspzwiHNDMks5OFbUJZdfK1…
Guest speakers: Clara Burghelea and Adina Dabija
Moderator: Otilia Baraboi
About the book: In this new collection of prose poems, Claudia Serea uses surrealism, irony, and black humor to express her experiences, from growing up behind the Iron Curtain to immigrating to New York City. The first section of the book, “There Were No Magic Beans,” recalls her childhood in Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s rule, a world in which terror mixes with fairy tales, nightmares, and dreams. The second section, “The Keepers of Moon Keys,” introduces a cast of peculiar characters, including folk tale protagonists, witches, ghosts, a collector of clouds, a bone music maker, a man who paints the time, and the Lord of Meanwhile. In “Dark Calligraphy,” the poet conjures history, remembering war and oppression through the eyes of a child. The reader is guided by a little girl and a museum custodian through the great traumas of recent history. In the last section of the book, “The Russian Hat,” Serea transports the reader into a metropolis as strange as the past she carries with her, to the “museum of our lives,” where “we are the curators, the visitors, and the paintings that paint themselves.” This astonishing place vaguely resembles New York City distorted by memories and dreams, but it might as well be Las Vegas where “what happens in the poem stays in the poem.” In this collection, Serea’s readers win “pound after pound of shiny poems,” the magical beans they will use to escape again and again, discovering hidden meanings with surprise and delight in each new reading.
Find out more about our guests from our website:
https://www.arcsproject.org/…/writing-on-the-walls-at…/
Event organized by ARCS in partnership with Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), Immigration Research Forum, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, and Romanians of DC, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY/USAa
Mărțișoare Workshop, Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Join us for a spring celebration -Mărțișor, March 1st.
Mărțișor is an old tradition celebrated every year on March 1st all over Romania, and the Republic of Moldova and also widely spread in Bulgaria and the Balkans. The name Mărțișor is a diminutive of March (Martie in Romanian). It is believed that the person who wears the red and white string would enjoy a prosperous and healthy year.
Register in advance for this event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZYudu…
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The workshop is destined for kids ages 7+, or younger, supervised by a parent.
Romanian artist and musician Beatrice Iordan will lead the workshop. Beatrice is a puppet artist, museum pedagogue at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, and she plays the cobza in the band “Trei Parale”. She also does shadow theater with “Hopa Trop”, her theater company, paints angels and – more than that – she believes that power and inspiration lie in ourselves, that we are our own mentor. You can find out more about her from this article in Romanian: https://viitorulromaniei.ro/…/beatrice-iordan-artist…
Event by ARCS, Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), and ARCS Detroit.
Dream in a Suitcase: The Story of an Immigrant Life by Domnica Rădulescu, Saturday, Feb 5, 2022
What is in the suitcase of a refugee escaping from a politically oppressive regime? Drawing on Domnica Rădulescu’s recent memoir Dream in a Suitcase: The Story of an Immigrant Life, this event is an invitation to explore the multifaceted fabric of dreams and cherished memories immigrants bring to the US. Join us for a dialogue between the author and her special guests who share similar stories of exile, uprootedness and resilience.
Register for the event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZAvd…
About the book:
Dream in a Suitcase unravels a fast-paced journey of survival, resilience, and the power of love. The story offers a rich multicultural mosaic of a life divided not only between two cultures and languages, that of the heroine’s native Romania and her adoptive US but also between Chicago’s urban culture and that of a small town in Virginia marked by a heavy confederate history. This book is deeply relevant for our times as it offers an opportunity for American-born audiences to develop a deeper understanding for all those who arrived in this country as refugees in search of freedom, peace, and different versions of the American Dream.
Endorsements:
“An extraordinary memoir of fortitude and freedom, a narrative that is vibrant and lyrical. Rădulescu takes us from Romania’s dark dictatorial past to the world of literature and beauty, back to the landscapes of her beloved native country, then to her new home in America, and always to the geography of the earth. This is an extraordinary read and a covenant to the power of truth and words.”
Marjorie Agosin, award-winning author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill.
“Domnica Rădulescu is a courageous writer. Dream in a Suitcase, like her other novels, is a breathless read.”
Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator, award-winning poet, and filmmaker.
Find out more about Domnica Rădulescu’s work:
http://www.domnicaradulescu.com
Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Suitcase…/dp/1649795394/
Event organized by ARCS in partnership with Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), Immigration Research Forum, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, Romanians of DC, ARCHER, and Romanian United Fund, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY/USA.
Dor: a mode of translation, Saturday, Jan 22, 2022
Join us for a conversation about dor, a Romanian word that some find untranslatable, and the complex relationships it acquires in exilic relations. What does dor carry as baggage? How does dor change when looking back towards a homeland in an Ovidian gaze? Is there an intentionality in exilic dor that shapes the various Romanian diaspora groups? Why and how do we re-cognize ourselves in longing? How is nostalgia politicized, and how do translators deal with the larger context of so-called untranslatable concepts?
Our discussion will draw from Alina Ștefănescu’s book “DOR” (order HERE https://www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/dor) establishing a dialogue between the author and the personal experiences, reflections and writings of our special guests Adriana Oniță, Cristiana Grigore and Andrew Davidson-Novosivschei. Read more details about our guests in their bios below.
Event organized by ARCS in partnership with Arizona American-Romanian Cultural Collaborative (ARCC), Immigration Research Forum, Romanians of DC and Bucharest Inside the Beltway, and with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY/USA.