The 29th edition of the Astra Film Festival will take place between 10th and 16th October, in cinema theatres, open air venues and/or online, depending on potential restrictions in place at the time of the festival.
Established in 1993, Astra Film Festival has become one of the main platforms of documentary cinema in Romania and Eastern Europe. Astra Film Festival seeks documentaries with a strong presence of the filmmaker’s point of view both in form and content. Cinematographic qualities, and the honesty of the filmmaker’s approach to the subject are highly valued. Creative documentaries and auteur films are especially welcome.
The deadline for submissions is 1 April 2022.
PROGRAM & ELIGIBILITY
We welcome documentary and non-fiction films from all around the world.
The Astra Film Festival program consists of three competitions and a variety of non-competitive sections.
Our competitions are:
New Voices Of Documentary Cinema
We are looking for feature length documentaries (longer than 50 min.) completed after 01.01.2021, which are the first, second or max. third work by filmmakers at the start of their careers;
Central And Eastern Europe
Eligible films are feature length documentaries (longer than 50 min.) completed after 01.01.2021, dealing with issues that are particular to the Eastern (ex-Soviet) Bloc;
Romania Open
Eligible films must be completed after 01.01.2021 and must be Romanian and international productions / co-productions with an original and creative approach of themes and/or subjects in connection with Romanian issues;
DocSchool
Eligible films must be completed after 01.01.2021, produced / co-produced by a film school or film studies program.
Films finalized after 01.01.2021, produced or co-produced in Romania or films that address specific issues in Romania, regardless of their duration, are eligible.
Besides the above competitions, Astra Film selects films for a variety of curated special programes.
The organisers decide on the section for which the films are selected.
You have the possibility to accept or decline the proposition of the organisers. However, please note that once you have accepted your film to be included in the official program of AFF 2022 you may not withdraw your submission.
SUBMISSION
To submit your film, please follow the steps indicated in the Entry Form. A link to the entry form is provided at the end of this document and can be accessed once you agree with the present Rules & Regulations.
We suggest you prepare the following information / materials and have them at hand, as you will be requested to provide them during the submission process:
- Film synopsis (in English);
- technical information: year of completion, countries of (co)production, duration;
- credit list;
- biography & filmography of the director;
- festival history for the submitted film;
- film poster (digital file);
- 2-3 stills from the film;
- photo(s) of the director(s);
- link (downloadable) to the film trailer;
- link (downloadable) to the film preview with English subtitles.
JURIES & AWARDS
The international juries will be composed of respected academics and cinema specialists. The jurors will select the winning films for the Festival awards. The finalists are nominated for the following awards:
-
New Voices Award
(international documentaries, feature length);
- Best Romanian Doc (Romanian productions / co-productions);
- Best film in the DocSchool Competition (film school productions).
The prizes in total amount of Euro 25,000 will be awarded to the authors of the winning films.
SELECTION
The official selection will be published on the festival’s website.
No letters or emails of refusal will be sent.
The Festival invites the directors of the selected films to be present at the screening(s) and cover the accommodation costs.
PRINT TRAFFIC
Screening copies must be:
- H.264 mp4;
- Apple ProRes mov;
- DCP.
PARTICIPATION
The films presented at Astra Film Festival are the object of animated discussions with the authors in the cinema theatres after the screenings. The Festival invites the author(s) of the films in the program or a delegate from the part of the director/producer to be present for the official screening. Accommodation is offered by the organizers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS
Once a film is selected, the festival has the right to:
– Use a maximum of three minutes of video from the documentary for publicity and online purposes unless an official trailer is provided;
– Use all publicity material to promote the festival.
By submitting the film you confirm that you have the right to do so and that you agree with the Astra Film Festival Rules & Regulations.
Submissions are now closed.