Astra Film Festival, 23rd Edition, will take place in Sibiu between 17 - 23 October, 2016.
A record number of 2,000 films were entered this year, and the audience might choose from a selection of the top 100 best documentaries recently produced in Romania and all over the world. The features included in the AFF 2016 programme are grouped according to the subjects they explore and are reunited in thematic programs such as
Inside Radical Islam,
No Place Like Dis-Place,
Citizens of the Online World,
Communist Faiths,
Aromanians. Strong author voices are reflected in the sections
Self-Family-Society,
Doc-vlog,
Circumscribed Spaces,
Stories from Urbania. Breath-taking stories and incredible characters are shown in the programmes
Encounters,
Refurbished Past and
Reality Under Cover. 40 of the films to be found in the thematic programmes are also included in the 4 competition sections of the Festival:
OutStanDox,
Romania,
Central & Eastern Europe and
Student.
The section
Self-Family-Society includes three Romanian documentaries:
Doar o răsuflare/A Mere Breath (directed by
Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan),
Angela (directed by Botond Pütök),
Chat with Alice (directed by Isabela Țenț) and the Romania-Spain co-production
Pregnant in Romania (directed by Jesús del Cerro).
Armâni, From Famous Manakia to I'm Not Famous (directed by Toma Enache),
The Manakia Brothers. Diary of a Long Look Back (directed by Eliza Zdru) and
Torna, torna, fratre! (directed by Marian Voicu) are the titles of the programme
Aromanians.
Communist Faiths, bringing two Romanian productions:
God Save the Partisans as We Wait for the Americans! (directed by Dragoș Zămosteanu) and
Împărăteasa roșie – Viața și aventurile Anei Pauker/The Red Empress. The Life and Adventures of Ana Pauker (directed by
Radu Gabrea).
The King's War (directed by Trevor Poots) will have a special screening, outside the competition.
A special programme is dedicated to the latest films made by non-fiction cinema superstars –
Great Master’s Latest:
The Pearl Button (directed by Patricio Guzmán), award winner at the Berlin Film Festival,
Fire At Sea (directed by Gianfranco Rosi, Great Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2016),
Lo and Behold,
Reveries of the Connected World (directed by Werner Herzog) and
The Thoughts That Once We Had (directed by Thom Andersen).
Another documentary film legend, Frederick Wiseman, will be paid homage to through a dedicated programme aiming at making the audience familiar with 3 films of his vast work – a challenging and non-censored X-ray of American and European institutions of the latest 50 years. Recently, the American Film Academy announced that the director will be granted an honorary OSCAR for his entire activity.
The newest technologies explored by documentary film in formats such as VR, 360, webdoc or full dome are presented in the programme
The Future Is Now. In premiere in Sibiu, Astra Film Festival audience will be able to experiment viewing documentary film outside the theatre hall by means of the latest gadgets, such as virtual reality glasses or 360 screenings.
The 2016 Edition programme will be completed by conferences, panel talks, masterclasses, meetings with industry professionals, Astra Film Junior, concerts and Q&A sessions with the directors present in Sibiu.
The official selection of Astra Film Festival 2016 is available for viewing
here.
