History - Astra Film

History

Astra Film Festival is the first documentary film festival in Romania.

The Festival was initiated and founded in 1993 by Dumitru Budrala, as the first initiative in Romania to promote documentary film and visual anthropology. The first edition of the Festival was a national event, screening exclusively Romanian documentaries.

Starting with 1994, the Festival became an international biennial event. The second edition was also limited to screenings, half of the films in the selection being domestic productions. It was the first step towards facilitating the contacts between important documentary film centres in the West and filmmakers from eastern European countries.

The 1996 Festival focused on the East-West dialogue. The Festival introduced Q&A sessions after the screenings, a premiere for film festivals in Romania.

Since 1998, the Festival has a special section for Romanian documentariers. The structure of the Festival developed, introducing additional events: the portrait of a world famous documentary/anthropological filmmaker, and special visual anthropology programs.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

film screenings

AFF09 Film Program (.pdf)

Mo.26 | Tu.27 | We.28 | Th.29

Fr.30 | Sa.31 | Su.01

events

Mo.26 - Su.01

FILM ARCHIVE

ASTRA FILM manages an extensive documentary film collection with public screening facilities. The ASTRA FILM archive started in 1990, and it has collected since thousands of documentaries produced in over 70 countries.

Due to our focus on the Eastern European and Romanian production, the ASTRA FILM archive holds a unique collection of documentaries documenting the issues of post-communism and transition in the region.