January 21, 2012 @ 8pm
Trap Door Theatre
1655 W. Cortland Ave, Chicago

Let's open the New Year with a great play by Matei Visniec, the Romanian playwright, poet and journalist now settled in Paris, working as a journalist at Radio France Internationale. Trap Door Theatre Presents…. The U.S. Premiere of… " the word progress on my mother’s lips doesn’t ring true"

Directed by: István Szabó K.
Purchase tickets: http://trapdoor.ticketleap.com/progress/
Learn more

May 27-29, 2011
Skokie Theatre
7924 Lincoln Ave., Skokie 60077

The Romanian Cultural Exchange (ROCX) is hosting the 3rd Romanian Film Festival in Chicago at the Skokie Theatre. As the L.A. Times quotes, "Romanians can't make a bad film. It's like, illegal in their country." We invite you to join the Romanian community, and foreign film enthusiasts alike in discovering the cinematic phenomenon that left a fierce impression on film festivals all over the world. Help ROCX make that impact in Chicago.

The festival will expose you to international award winning feature films as well as shorts and documentaries. Special guest actors and directors will be joining us from Romania to comment on their work and provide insights. 

Early bird tickets are now available for sale on the festival page!!!

Learn more

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
Alliance Francaise - Chicago
54 W. Chicago Ave entrance
Free admission


Alliance Francaise in partnership with ROCX invites you to the Romanian Soiree as part of the Festival de la Francophonie. Join us for the screening of Nae Carnfil's “The Rest Is Silence", described by Variety as “an intelligent crowd-pleaser made with affection for its characters and era” and for a glas of french wine.

Sinopsys: In 1911-12, the Romanian movie director Grigore Brezianu and the financial tycoon Leon Popescu made together the 2 hours long movie "Romania's Independence" - an as faithful as possible screen adaptation of the real Independence War that had been fought in 1877. Now, "Restul e tacere" tells us, in a loose and half-fictionalized way, the story of this movie making.

Please register for the event with Alliance Francaise!

Friday, March 4, 2011 @ 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Alliance Francaise - Chicago
54 W. Chicago Ave entrance
Children $5, Adults $15 - SOLD OUT!!!

Djembé, raclette, grio, gauffre, tourtière, poutine, thiou… Don’t know what these words mean… or taste like? Come and find out!

ROCX is proud to have Romania represented on the kick-off evening of a month-long festival organized by Alliance Fracaise, celebrating French-speaking people from over 50 different countries. Come to sample delicacies from Romania, Belgium, Canada, France, Morocco, Québec and Switzerland, meet people from all over the world on the dance floor with DJ Lady D spinning La Francofonie, a mix of classics, hits and techno-ethnic. And… pourquoi pas? Belt out your own version of La Vie en Rose and let your inner Céline Dion loose during the Karaoke de la Francophonie. Prizes for the braves! The Romanian pavilion will be sponsored by generous local Romanian businesses such as:
Dana Catering - Transylvanian Cuisine -  (transilvania-catering@yahoo.com)
Chimney Cake Island - kurtos colac - (chimneycakeisland.com)
Casa Dracula

Pre-register early with Alliance Francaise! Places are limited and this program sells out every year.

Friday, October 29, 2010 @ 7:00 pm
1837 S. Halsted in Pilsen

For one night only, Theatre Y is taking over the Chicago Art Department gallery space to create an immersive evening of theatre, dance, visual art, food and drink, merriment and conversation in celebration of their friend from Transylvania András Visky. Based in Chicago with roots in Romania, Theatre Y creates spaces for international dialogue through theatre. Your presence is cordially requested for Theatre Y's annual fundraising event.

Performing their way from one corner to the other, up the stairs, up the walls, upside down and all around and accompanied by a live gypsy band, the Theatre Y ensemble will present an audacious and transcendent collage of excerpts from Visky's plays Disciples, Juliet, I Killed My Mother and Backborn throughout the evening.  Join them to dance, talk and break bread with them. Tickets are $25 at the door.

Learn more

Octombrie 24, 2010 - Această iniţiativă face parte din campania “Diaspora votează”, un proiect care îşi propune să rezolve o deficienţă majoră pentru cetăţenii români cu drept de vot: accea de a participa efectiv la procesul democratic al alegerilor.
Pe parcursul lunii octombrie se vor desfăşura dezbateri similare în 15 oraşe din 11 ţări (Belgia, Canada, Franţa, Germania, Marea Britanie, Olanda, Polonia, San Marino, Spania, SUA şi Ungaria). Scopul acestora este de a obţine un feedback detaliat de la cei direct implicaţi, care să surprindă situaţia reală a procesului electoral în străinătate. Analiza dezbaterilor va fi integrată în cadrul unui document de politici publice, lucrare care va fi prezentată în cadrul celei de-a treia conferinţe anuale a GRSPSociety (Asociaţia Globală a Studenţilor şi Tinerilor Profesionişti Români) Bucureşti, 25-28 noiembrie. Aici se vor întâlni membri şi colaboratori ai organizaţiei cu parlamentari români şi lideri de opinie din sfera non-guvernamentală, obiectivul final fiind acela de a înainta o propunere legislativă concretă care să treacă de Parlament.

Teme de dezbatere
• Temele vor fi dezbătute în ordinea menţionării lor. Se vor aloca 15 minute pentru fiecare temă. Pentru introducere şi concluzii se vor aloca câte 20 de minute. Trebuie luat în considerare faptul că în cazul unor teme este posibil ca discuţia să depăşească timpul alocat.
• În cazul în care moderatorul apreciază că discuţia a devenit redundantă sau irelevantă, dezbaterea asupra respectivei teme trebuie încheiată şi se va deschide discuţia la următoarea temă.

Introducere - Dezbaterea va începe printr-o scurtă prezentare de către moderator a justificării dezbaterii (cu referire la situaţia actuală a participării la vot a românilor din afara graniţelor ţării) şi a tematicii celor două părţi ale dezbaterii

Partea I – Facilitarea participării la vot pentru românii aflaţi în afara graniţelor ţării în ziua alegerilor
Tema 1.  O serie de comentatori au argumentat faptul că la ultimele alegeri prezidenţiale din România, câştigătorul a fost decis de voturile românilor din afara graniţelor României. În acest context o serie de politicieni dar şi comentatori au ridicat problema legitimităţii dreptului cetăţenilor români care nu trăiesc în România de a vota. Cum aţi răspunde unei astfel de provocări?
Tema 2. Dacă ar fi mai uşor pentru românii din străinătate să voteze credeţi că interesul lor pentru participarea la vot ar creşte semnificativ in comunitatea dumneavoastra? De ce da? De ce nu?

Partea II – Aspecte tehnice şi legislative ale schimbării modalităţii de vot pentru românii aflaţi în afara graniţelor ţării în ziua alegerilor. Care este cea mai eficientă abordare? Votul poştal, votul electronic sau doar creşterea numărului de secţii de votare aflate în afara graniţelor României?
Tema 1. Prezentarea votul prin corespondenţă. Discuţie cu privire la potenţialele avantaje şi dezavantaje
Tema 2. Prezentarea votul electronic. Discuţie cu privire la potenţialele avantaje şi dezavantaje
Tema 3. Orice schimbare în sistemul de vot actual necesită rezolvarea unor dificultăţi tehnice semnificative şi ar solicita un efort susţinut din partea instituţiilor publice din România. Acest motiv a fost invocat poate cel mai des împotriva introducerii votului prin poştă sau electronic. Ce opinie aveţi despre argumentul invocat?

Sunday, September 26 2010 @ 3:00 pm
Royal George Theatre Center
1641 N Halsted St., Chicago
$20 Admission when mentioning the ROCX Discount Code
BYOB cocktail party to follow the performance

In an exclusive performance for the ROCX audience, Theatre Y presents Andras Visky's play 'Julie' Sunday September 26th at 3pm. Melissa Hawkins stars in Visky's biographically-based tour de force, directed by Karin Coonrod, who staged the critically acclaimed production of the Visky"s "I Killed My Mother" earlier this year. This riveting 90-minute solo work subtitled "A Dialogue About Love," is the story of how a woman's enduring love is tested while she is imprisoned with her children with no chance of survival. Plays International Magazine says "without a gram of sentimentality, 'Juliet' still reminds us that crocuses bloom-even in the snow. "Juliet" documents the true story of the parents of Transylvanian writer Visky. In 1939, his father fled Romania for Hungary, where he was to meet his future wife. After World War II, they decided to return to Transylvania, by then, part of Romania. Acting in opposition with the dictatorship Visky's father was sentenced to 22 years in prison by the Communist authorities for crime of "organization against socialist public order," and his wife and seven children were deported to the Romanian gulag a thousand kilometers from their home. Visky was only two years old at the time.

To purchase tickets, please call the theatre box office at 312.988.9000 or visit www.theroyalgeorgetheatre.com.

Sunday, May 02- June 27 2010
5811 S. Ellis Ave, Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418, 
Chicago, IL 606037
Free Admission

You are cordially invited to The Seductiveness of the Interval, a project hosted by the Renaissance Society from University of Chicago in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute. Presented initially at the Romanian Pavilion of the 2009 Venice Biennale, the work of the three Romanian artists--Stefan Constantinescu, Andrea Faciu and Ciprian Muresan--is exhibited in a two-story architectural structure designed by studio BASAR specifically for that purpose. Together, the artists explore themes of exile, the human capacity for cruelty, and hope. Although the artists' works are distinct in terms of form and content, they are united by a structure conceived as a stage set where the viewer is invited to reflect on the individual works and the viewing experience itself.

The opening reception of The Seductiveness of the Intervalat Chicago’s Renaissance Society and discussions with the artists will take place on Sunday May 2, 2010 at 4pm. The event is free of charge and open to the public. For additional information please visit www.renaissancesociety.org

Friday, March 19th 2010 @ 6:30 pm
737 N Michigan Ave, Olympia Center, Suite 2050, Chicago, IL 606011
Free Admission
Limited seats. We require all participants to sign up.

Book Launch featuring ALAN ELSNER's recent novel: 'ROMANCE LANGUAGE'
Romanian Cultural Exchange (ROCX) invites you to attend Post-Communist Romania: An American Perspective, a book launch presented by distinguished author Alan Elsner. Mr. Elsner will be presenting his latest novel, ‘Romance Language’, a novel that is part love story, part historical drama, part coming-of-age, set in modern-day Romania, with tails of 1989 when the country struggled under its communist regime.

Alan Elsner is a journalist with Thomson-Reuters and a writer with a fascinating personality. Throughout his career, Alan experienced the most amazing cultures, witnessed wars, terrorism and natural disasters. His career exposed him to a wide range of politicians and individuals including Presidents of the United States, Secretaries of States and innumerous activists.  Autographed Books $15.

PHOTO EXHIBITION by JENNIFER OKRAY
We are also delighted to have Jennifer Okray participate to the event by debuting with a series of pictures taken in Romania as part of the independent photojournalism she performed in Eastern Europe. Learn more

Liana Sava and Anca Paunescu have participated in the second Global Romanian Students and Young Professionals Society (GRSPSociety) Conference.  The event took place in Boston, at the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, between the 4th and the 6th of December, 2009. Over 75 participants from around the world shared their views about Romania's future and presented their plans on how their ideas could be implemented by partnering with GRSPSociety.

The conference hosted high-profile key-note speakers and panelists from the non-profit sector, academia, business and mass-media.

The main focus of the conference were the Working Groups (Democracy and Participation, Education and Research, Culture and Arts, Business and Finance, Administration and Public Policy, International Migration, Romania's Image Abroad, International Development and Healthcare and Medical Research) which, by the end of the conference, proposed a series of projects which will be implemented over the course of 2010.

For more details about the conference and how you can get involved, please visit  http://www.grspsociety.org/projects

On October 16th 2009, the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry opened its doors to welcome their new members. The event took place at the Romanian Heritage Center in Niles. ROCX was present at the ribbon cutting ceremony amongst several hundred participants such as representatives of the Romanian Consulate at Chicago, TVR International, New York Magazine, Hungary’s Consul in Chicago as well as numerous other leaders of the Romanian Community.


To obtain additional information regarding the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry please visit: http://www.rocci.us/

Andra Munteanu, founder of the ROCX organization has been part of a 14 member delegation invited in September 2009 to Bucharest by the Secretary of State Eugen Tomac. Mr. Tomac is the Chief Relations Officer for Romanians Abroad within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania. The main topic discussed during the four day visit, was improving the relations between the Institutions of the Romanian State and the Romanian Communities within the United States.

"In urma cu doar doua saptamani Domnia Sa Eugen Tomac a vizitat comunitati romanesti din marile metropole americane New York, Chicago si Los Angeles unde a avut intalniri cu reprezentanti ai unor organizatii social-culturale si ale mass-mediei romanesti din SUA la Consulatele Generale ale Romaniei din aceste orase. Intrucat concluzia Secretarului de Stat Tomac a fost aceea de a intensifica dialogul cu o parte din acesti lideri, Domnia Sa a invitat 14 din acesti lideri si reprezentanti romano-americani la Bucuresti pentru trei zile de sedinte de lucru cu liderii institutiilor statului roman. "Una din preocuparile majore ale politicii externe ale Romaniei si ale Departamentului pentru Relatiile cu Romanii de Pretutindeni este consolidarea relatiei acestuia cu comunitatile romanesti din afara granitelor tarii" a declarat ministrul Secretar de Stat Tomac in invitatia sa adresata acestor reprezentanti.

In scurta sa vizita in SUA, domnul Tomac a explicat reprezentantilor comunitatii romanesti ca in putinele luni pe care Domnia Sa le-a avut la dispozitie de la preluarea acestui departament si pana in prezent, prioritatea sa a constituit-o romanii ce traiesc in tarile invecinate Romaniei, insa a sosit acum timpul ca si romanii din SUA sa fie pusi pe agenda oficiala de lucru si sa identifice care ar fi necesitatile prioritare.