18 July 2026 · Kieser House, Iași

What happens when you combine a historic building, closed to the public for far too long, with Romania’s first film festival dedicated to mental health? You get the {Retro}Perspectives exhibition.

In 1914, as the walls of Kieser House began their own history, cinema was also starting its dialogue with audiences. {Retro}Perspectives takes you through the films of 1914, the year Kieser House officially opened, all the way to 2026, the year the building reopens. One frame from each film, one line, 113 chances to be moved, to think about something that may never have crossed your mind, or to discover a film you simply must see.

The reopening of Kieser House is an act of cultural recovery, which we celebrate through film frames woven into the restored architecture of the house — from the entrance, through the inner courtyard, all the way inside the TRUE café. The 113 frames move from black-and-white to color, from the aesthetics of early 20th-century film to contemporary sets, in a journey that lets you observe how the art of cinema developed and the many ways the particularities of human nature have been questioned.

{Retro}Perspectives is a curatorial project proposed by the Romanian Mental Health Film Festival, bringing forgotten or little-known films to the surface, among people, in the cinematic inner courtyard of Kieser House. We invite you to explore {Retro}Perspectives step by step, frame by frame, and to discover the spaces that Kieser House has to offer!