Premieres of the Anniversary Edition of Astra Film Festival Copy

Astra Film Festival also brings up current topics in the anniversary edition, such as the challenges of online life, which are taking over more and more people. How are the Internet, social media and artificial intelligence transforming us? What is the distance between us and the image we build more in social media? What are the risks and the great ethical challenges of our existence in an environment where the boundaries between good and bad, real and imagined are often difficult to draw? These are the questions that three films that are part of the special program "Our Lives Online", scheduled for the national premiere at the anniversary edition of the Astra Film Festival (Sibiu, October 15-22), as well as the participants in the organized debate, are trying to answer Wednesday, October 18. It is about two university students, Mihnea Măruță (Babeș-Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca) and Minodora Sălcudean (Lucian Blaga University from Sibiu). More details: https://www.astrafilm.ro/ro/2023/astra-film-junior/film/alta-identitate

Manifesto , by Angie Vincito (Russia), reveals a shocking reality. Using images filmed with phones, which children and teenagers in Russia have posted on social networks in recent years, the documentary surgically cuts, alternating routine moments and innocent games in the schoolyard, with tense situations and scenes of genuine terror, such as those in which gunshots are heard in a schoolyard. terror, denouncing the oppression and aggression of a society out of balance.

Insula lu Knit, by Ane Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L'helgoualc'h (France), is a docu-fiction that combines ciné-vérité and video games. The filmmakers adopt avatars as similar as possible to the classic roles of a small film crew and invite the audience into an innovative project, where the border between fiction and reality, between the real world and the simulated one, sometimes becomes difficult to draw.

A student discovers that her image and identity have been stolen and used in pornographic material available on the Internet. He is the subject of the documentary Another Identity , by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn (UK, USA production). The filmmakers follow the young woman on an arduous journey in search of justice in a film that invites meditation on the risks and security in this environment. It is a film recommended for teenagers, about extreme cases, deepfakes, ethical issues and the limits of online exposure. Blurry images with explicit content appear in the movie.

The screening of the film Another Identity will be followed by a moderated debate by professor Minodora Sălcudean, from the "Lucian Blaga" University in Sibiu, who has as her guest the philosopher and journalist Mihnea Măruță, who teaches philosophy at the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca . With a career in the press of over 20 years, Măruță teaches Philosophy of Communication at the Department of Journalism of "Babeș-Bolyai" University and is the author of the book "Virtual identity. How and why social networks are transforming us", published this year by Humanitas Publishing. Integrative psychotherapist Cristina Ösz will answer, in her turn, questions from the audience.

The program of the three screenings

Other Identity (15+)

Manifest

Knit's Island

About the 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. Under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, the festival is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and the Astra Film Foundation, with the Ministry of Culture as a strategic partner, with the support of the Sibiu County Council, the National Center of Cinematography, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Consulate of the Federal Republic Germany in Sibiu and the Union of Cinematographers. The event is co-financed by the Sibiu City Council through the Sibiu City Hall.

Strategic partner: Ministry of Culture