Astra Film Chisinau opens on Thursday, November 14, at Cinema Loteanu. Poet Ana Blandiana will be the main guest. It is the event’s third edition.
Astra Film Festival returns with a selection of the best documentary films, including “Alice On & Off,” which was awarded Best Documentary of the Year (Romania Section) at the edition that concluded a week ago in Sibiu.
Astra Film Chisinau is organized by Astra Film/CNM Astra and the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova (DRRM) within the Romanian Government.
Admission is free, and participants are asked to reserve zero-value tickets on the astrafilm.ro website.
”We return with the same excitement to Chisinau at a time when Romanians on both sides of the Prut River want to look to the future with confidence. A future in which we better understand the world we live in and enjoy the miracle of each day. Documentary film has this gift: it shows us perspectives we might not otherwise have access to and keeps us united, fascinated by the spectacle of the world we live in,” stated Dumitru Budrala, the founding director of Astra Film Festival.
”The joint efforts of DRRM and Astra Film to organize the third consecutive edition of Astra Film Chisinau aim at the public in the Republic of Moldova, whom we invite to enjoy the most carefully selected documentaries, awarded and appreciated by the audience at the 31st edition of Astra Film Festival in Romania,” stated Adrian Dupu, Secretary of State of DRRM.
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The AF Chisinau program:
THURSDAY, November 14: AF Chisinau opens at 18:00 with an impressive documentary addressing a highly sensitive yet necessary topic: the vulnerability of minors. “Alice On & Off” (dir. Isabela Tant, Romania – 2024 | 86 min) tells the story of a young girl who becomes a mother at just 16 and marries a man 35 years older. The documentary won the Best Film Award in the Romania Section at AFF2024 for ”bringing to light a teenage artist turned mother, in a liminal, dark universe full of risks and brutality” (from the jury’s motivation).
FRIDAY, November 15: At 16:00, viewers can watch ”In the Name of the Land” (dir. Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, Poland, Serbia, Lithuania – 2023 | 114 min), last year’s Oscar entry from Poland. The film, an adaptation of the novel “The Peasants” by Nobel laureate W.S. Reymont, depicts a 19th-century Polish village and can be seen as a blend of “Ion” and “Morometii” with a Polish twist. The story centers on Jana, a beautiful and free-spirited 19-year-old girl uninterested in land or wealth, with a truly unique destiny.
At 18:10, a feature film event, ”Between Silence and Sin” (dir. Diana Nicolae, Romania, USA – 2024 | 98 min), will follow. This biographical documentary explores the challenging life and career of poet Ana Blandiana, banned under the communist dictatorship before being officially recognized as a writer. After the screening, the audience can engage in a dialogue with Ana Blandiana, who recently received one of Europe’s most prestigious poetry awards, the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2024, at a ceremony presided over by the Spanish Royal Family. The evening will conclude with a concert by the renowned Ada Milea.
SATURDAY, November 16: Three films will be shown. At 16:15, the documentary ”Leo Records: Strictly for our Friends” (dir. Ioana Grigore, Romania – 2024 | 70 min) shares the story of Leo, a charming octogenarian jazz enthusiast who dedicated his life to promoting experimental jazz. Forced by the KGB to leave the USSR, he arrived in London in the 1970s, broadcasting jazz music on the BBC to tens of millions beyond the Iron Curtain.
At 17:35, ”The Martyr of Union” (dir. Mara Ionescu, Romania, 2024 | 57 min), a documentary honoring Protoiereu Alexandru Baltaga (1861–1941), one of the architects of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on March 27, 1918, and a martyr of the Romanian Orthodox Church, will be screened. He was recently canonized and will soon be venerated as a saint in the Romanian Patriarchate’s calendar – a Trinitas TV project funded by DRRM in partnership with the Metropolis of Bessarabia, the History Institute of Moldova State University, and TVR Moldova.
At 18:30, viewers can explore Umberto Eco’s renowned library in the film ”Umberto Eco – The Library of the World” (dir. Davide Ferrario, Italy – 2022 | 80 min). This captivating documentary suggests that the timeless search for knowledge lie within the depths of Eco’s library and mind. The screening will be followed by a discussion titled ”The Era of Digital Feudalism,” exploring the impact of the digital age on the conservation/archiving and transmission of knowledge to future generations.
The Astra Film Junior educational program includes 16 documentary screenings for students of all ages.
Organizers will also present a collection of documentaries for children and teenagers, recently featured in Romania as part of the Astra Film Junior educational program. The Astra Film Junior Chisinau screenings will happen, from Thursday, November 14, to Saturday, November 16, starting at 09:00 at Cinema Loteanu.
Titles include ”The Little Cube’s Emotions” (dir. Benoît Leva, France – 2021), ”Food for Change” (dir. Benoît Bringer, France, Sweden, Brazil – 2020), ”Bachir in Wonderland” (dir. Els Duran and Evelien Vehof, the Netherlands – 2018), ”Pien, Queen of the Bees” (dir. Ellen Vloet, Netherlands – 2018), ”Dream. Life” (dir. Ruxandra Gubernat, Romania – 2024), ”The Girl Who Defied Gravity” (dir. Jens Pedersen, Denmark – 2017), ”Teenage Engineers” (dir. Aleksandra Skowron and Hanna Polak, Poland – 2020).