Catalogue

Astra Film Festival can pride itself with having established in Romania documentary cinema in the broad sense. Year after year, the festival has pushed the limits of traditional definitions and categorizations of the genre, even when it meant to tread on unexplored ground.

This year's festival proposes an immersion into reality. The 132 films in the official selection have been organized into sections and thematic programmes that are reflections of realities ranking high among the concerns of the world today, and they come through the filter of the filmmaker's eye and artistic creed.

The intrusion of reality in cinema and Werner Herzog's “ecstatic truth'' are brilliantly analysed by Bill Nichols in ''Grizzly Man'', the theme of his masterclass at Astra Film.

Magical realism is brought into the festival by film director Iosif Demian and his ''Rainbow Baloons'', a film he completed in 1982. 35 years on, Astra Film is proud to host the official release with a special screening followed by a meeting with the audience moderated by film director Cristi Puiu.

Alternative facts of the post-truth era are the subject of debates in a panel about fake news and a masterclass on independent mockumentaries.

This year's programme of Virtual Reality and 360° films point out the increasing range of areas where VR applications have gained ground lately, from architecture, fashion and health care to army forces, business, education, journalism and social activism.

Astra Film Junior, our documentary film literacy programme for schools, has turned onto a phenomenon, with tens of thousand of participants at the screenings, workshops, contests and at the Gala presentation of the documentary shorts made by high school pupils.

Documentary Tank@Astra Film offers the industry delegates a series of expert-led discussions focused on the funding, development and distribution of films, new media and training possibilities.

Fulldome cinema returns in the city centre, on the spot of an imaginary point of convergence of all festival venues across Sibiu with films about science, Planet Earth and the Cosmos, as well as projects of immersive art.

World premieres, official releases, unprecedented meetings, concerts, are also part of the Astra Film Festival 2017 reality.

Welcome to the Festival!

dr. Dumitru Budrala
Founding Director

You are welcome to browse the Astra film Festival 2017 Catalogue.