Autumn’s cultural festivals
Bucharest and Sibiu, in central Romania, are these days hosting prestigious theater and documentary film festivals
Bogdan Matei, 21.10.2024, 13:50
Theatre and documentary films are presently dominating Romania’s cultural life. Bucharest is seeing the National Theatre Festival (FNT) a cultural event at its 34th edition, which this year unfolds under the motto, “The Dramaturgy of Possible”. By 28 October, theatre goers have the opportunity of watching performances from a selection, which according to organizers, is meant to express ‘possible scenarios’. The edition’s formal selection comprises over 30 performances from Bucharest and abroad.
Among these there are “The Anthology of Disappearance” written and directed by Radu Afrim; William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ directed by Andrei Serban; ‘Hedda Gabler’ of Henrik Ibsen, directed by Thomas Ostermeier. The event also brings together several theatre troupes from abroad, from countries like Germany, Ireland, Poland and Belgium.
The event, a production of Romania’s Theatre Union, UNITER, is being funded by the Ministry of Culture.
As of Sunday, the city of Sibiu, in central Romania, is hosting the International Documentary Film Festival Astra, also known as AFF. Over 100 documentaries are to be screened during the event, due to end on 27 October.
The screenings are being made in several locations around the city such as cinema and theatre halls and the New Cinema Dome, built in the city’s Big Square; a state-of-the-art facility which offers special visual experiences, where viewers are becoming part of the artistic world, which they are also invited to explore.
The festival’s awards are to be granted by a professional jury in four sections: “Central and Eastern Europe”, “Romania”, “Emerging Voices of the Documentary Film” and “Students Competition”. Young European Filmmakers are this year enjoying unique opportunities in the aforementioned festival. Eight projects by European film producers and directors are going to benefit special mentoring sessions by renowned professionals of the film industry.
Students are also benefitting a special programme, DocStudent Hub, during which they will be attending workshops, master-classes and practical activities in the fields of art, production and distribution of documentary films. According to organizers, these activities also enjoy the participation of students and professors of prestigious universities in Prague, Zagreb, Vilnius, Bratislava, Zlin, Cluj Napoca and Bucharest.
The International Documentary Film Festival, Astra, which was launched as a novel project in 1993, was one of the most important non-fiction film festivals in Europe included by the European Film Academy on the list of those, which can do direct nominations for the European Film Awards.
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