After Romanian menus and Romanian language courses sprouted in the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse, a movie chain has started to offer the audience films with Romanian subtitles.

As Romanian neighbors come in large numbers on weekend shopping trips, buy property and start businesses, this weekend will be the first to satisfy also their movie interests.

The first "Romanian title" is an action movie called "Drive" (in Bulgarian - "Living on the edge" and in Romanian - "Cursa"). The company plans to offer more titles with Bulgarian and Romanian subtitles as well as premieres when the release dates in the two neighboring countries coincide.

The international cinema chain owns 100 screens in Romania.

Ever since Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union, the Danube city of Ruse, whose population totals 175,000, has undergone a marked revitalization, fueled by a Romanian spending spree.

Bucharest is not even 70 kilometers distant from Ruse, which makes it a very attractive destination for the citizens of the Romanian capital after long years of separation of Communist borders and prejudices.

Before 2007, Ruse was known for its faded glory, depopulation and rusting behemoths of Soviet-era heavy industry. Now, while the global economic slowdown has hit it too, it did not diminish extra-large holiday crowds from Romania, and so far has not affected construction of the malls, restaurants and cinemas.

Recently it emerged that the richest citizen of the Bulgarian city of Ruse who earned BGN 3 12 M last year is a man from neighboring Romania, attracted by the lower taxes.

Both Bulgarians and Romanians agree that the traffic between the two countries is helping to dispel negative stereotypes on each side, learn more about the neighbor and understand its people better.

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