Astra Film Festival announces a Warm-Up event which will take place in
Sibiu, on the on 3rd and 4th of September
The films projected on a screen placed between windmills
can be watched from boats that float on the lake
Sibiu, on the on 3rd and 4th of September
The films projected on a screen placed between windmills
can be watched from boats that float on the lake
Sibiu is getting ready for Astra Film Festival 2022. The organisers announce for September 3 and 4, that is, the last weekend before the start of school, The Astra Film Warm-Up, a teasing event for the actual festival that will take place from October 9-16. The program proposes spectacular encounters between human emotion and artificial intelligence and a discussion on film education, thus marking the return of Astra Film Junior in this year`s edition of the festival. The AFF Warm-Up will treat the viewers with films projected on a giant screen set between windmills that can be seen from boats that float on the lake: “River” (Jennifer Peedom & Joseph Nizeti) and “Who made you?” (Iris Härmä).
“The Festival returns indoors this year, from 9 to 16th October. But until then, because we’ve all enjoyed the experience of the outdoor projections, we will offer our public two screenings on the lake. This is how the Warm-Up event took shape and also because we wanted to offer a glimpse into this edition of the Festival. Astra Film has always been and it will continue to be a platform situated at the confluence of present and future, of emotion and technology,” declares Dumitru Budrala, the founding director of Astra Film Festival.
The first film is a documentary launched three months ago, that is already known and appreciated. It is the Australian production “River”, made by Jennifer Peedom and Joseph Nizeti, awarded recently as The Best International Documentary at Florida Film Festival.
With breathtaking images, recorded from satellites, drones and helicopters, with the unmistakable voice of William Dafoe and a soundtrack interpreted by Australian Chamber Orchestra with diverse music from JS BACH and Giuseppe Verdi to John Greenwood (Radiohead), from the violinist Richard Tognetti to William Barton and his didgeridoo, “River” is a musical and cinematic odyssey, a documentary that explores the relationship between people and rivers that are floating on six continents.
This film shows us the way in which, in time, people have changed the course of every river in the world and gives a warning: if we don’t change our habits and we don’t respect nature, we will end up destroying the world.
“Ultimately, we hope that River prompts the audience to contemplate what it means to think like a river – to dream downstream in time to the longer-term consequences of our actions in the present – to contemplate what it means to be good ancestors,” declares director Jennifer Peedom.
“Ultimately, we hope that River prompts the audience to contemplate what it means to think like a river – to dream downstream in time to the longer-term consequences of our actions in the present – to contemplate what it means to be good ancestors,” declares director Jennifer Peedom.
The projection will be accompanied by side events and special guests who will make a memorable night for the participants.
The movie that will be watched from the boats on the second night of the AFF Warm-up is “Who made you?”, made by Iiris Härmä (Finland). Distinguished with two important awards (Best Documentary at Raindance Film Festival, 2019 and KI Science Film Award at Karlsruhe science festival 2019, organised by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), the film shows a humanistic approach on a stringent subject of our era: the fast development of the technology and the transformations that are to follow. Artificial intelligence is studied this time with pure curiosity and wonder, so we can, through the interaction between humans and robots and through the visions expressed by the researchers, take a quick peek at the years to come.
“We are excited that the audience who will participate at this special event will have the opportunity to watch exceptional movies in premiere from rowing in the boats that are floating on the lake in The Astra Museum, films that will be “projected on the screen between the windmills,” declared Ciprian Ștefan, General Director of Astra Museum in Sibiu.
The AFF Warm-Up will also include Focus Documentary Cinema for Teenagers. This event will contain two modules of discussions in which we will emphasise on the way teenagers understand a documentary film, how they can express their opinions in public and we will also understand how a documentary film is made. This event is meant for high school students (14-18 years old) and AFF volunteers (who take priority).
About Astra Film Festival
Astra Film Festival Sibiu, launched in 1993 as an innovative project, is one of the most important non-fiction film festivals in Europe, included by the European Film Academy on the list of festivals that have the right to make direct nominations for the European Film Awards.
Astra Film Festival is under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and is organised by Astra Film, CNM Astra and the Astra Film Foundation, with the support of the Sibiu County Council, the Ministry of Culture, the National Centre of Cinematography, the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sibiu and the Union of Cinematographers. The event is co-financed by the Sibiu City Council through the Sibiu City Hall and by the European Union through the Creative Europe Program.
