Boss, grab a beer and sit down, because I've got news that'll make you appreciate what we have, but also see how much we're missing. On June 1st, everyone's talking about animation, because, you know, kids watch cartoons on Netflix. But me, with a 14-year-old and an 8-year-old, I know well that in Romania, animation is like trying to make sarmale without cabbage: you've got talent, you've got potential, but you don't have schools, you don't have money, you don't have cinemas. And so, I talked to a guy who knows the deal: Mihai Mitrică, founder of Animest and the festival in Giurgiu. He told me straight up: "Romania doesn't lack creativity, but schools and stories in animation." And he took me on a journey from the beginning.

Listen up, because this is history: 67 years ago, in 1957, a guy named Ion Popescu Gopo won the Palme d'Or at Cannes with a short film. That was the key moment, bro! Everyone said: "That's it, Romanian animation is about to explode!" And it did explode, but not how we expected. Gopo founded the Animafilm studio and they made a ton of productions, especially series for the French and Spanish. But as for independent animation, big awards, nothing was heard until Anca Damian with "Crulic" in 2011, when she won the grand prize at Annecy, which is like the Cannes of animation. Otherwise, our folks were selected, but didn't win anything like that. And so, from a mountain peak, we were left with hope.

And it's not like we didn't have people. Mitrică told me about Ion Truică, who was selected at Berlin in the '70s-'80s. But many were blacklisted by the communists and no one heard of them. Domestically, Luminița Cazacu made films for kids on TV and those worked. Mihai Bădică left for Denmark, where he's a professor. So, if you have no one to show your work to, talent is useless.

After 1989, disaster struck. Animafilm closed, 90% of creators went abroad or regrouped in private studios, like Dacodac, which made feature films. The National Film Center also appeared, but only recently were budgets separated for animation. And so, we coasted along.

Now, let's be serious: everyone thinks animation is just for kids. Both here and abroad. Mitrică said it's Walt Disney's fault for starting that trend. 90% of international productions are for kids, because that's where the audience is: a kid doesn't come to the cinema alone, they come with parents. So the audience doubles. But that doesn't mean animation is a genre; it's cinema, plain and simple. As Guillermo del Toro said, "animation is not a genre." It's like auteur film or horror.

The new generation of creators? They've got technical talent, but stories are lacking. Mitrică says schools focus more on drawing and animation, and less on screenwriting. And that's the key: they need to collaborate with people who know how to write scripts. But where from, when we don't have enough schools? With 19 million people, we have film schools only in Bucharest, Cluj, a bit in Oradea and Iași. That's not enough, bro! We don't even have cinemas in many cities. What do you do, watch Netflix and dream of making it like Pixar? You won't get there that easily.

And funding? Oh, that's a mess. We have the CNC, but the money from betting and lottery, which should go to film, isn't collected. The law is written, but not applied. Like in many other areas. Mitrică says people have started not waiting and making films on their own, even if it destroys their health. Better than waiting four years for funding and then not even liking the script anymore.

Now, about AI: it's not the devil, but not the savior either. Mitrică says if you use it to ease robotic work, it's okay. But to write scripts or shape a film with AI? That's not creative, bro. AI takes from what it's seen, it doesn't invent. So it won't replace our creativity, but it can help in small doses.

What do we need? More schools, more cinemas, more distribution. Mitrică recommends two animations still showing in theaters: "Amelie" and "Arco", both France-Romania co-productions that were at Cannes last year. And now, coming from a guy who's been organizing festivals for years, I say we should watch these too, not just blockbusters. Alright, I'm off to explain to Mioara that if she wants to see a Romanian animation, she has to go to the cinema, not Netflix. Maybe she'll let me take the kids too, so they can see what a real film is.