11/10/2019 - The industry platform of Romania’s Astra Film Festival has gone through a significant facelift this year

DocumentaryTank@AFF, the industry platform of the Astra Film Festival (14-20 October, Sibiu), will be undergoing some significant changes at its new edition, which will take place between 17 and 19 October. This year, all ten selected projects in the AstraFilmLab, the main part of the strand, will be pitched in front of an audience of professionals. Last year, only four out of the 12 projects were pitched publicly. Also, this year, the platform is opening up to projects in development from outside Romania.

“Half of the projects selected for the AstraFilmLab are being made by first-time directors, as the programme encourages new talent and emphasises the sustainable growth and future development of the documentary film industry in the region. Though different in their artistic approaches, as well as in the subjects they address, all ten projects are connected by a sense of concern for the other, of unwavering empathy, and connection with the characters and their stories,” Raluca Iacob, the main organiser of DocumentaryTank@AFF, tells Cineuropa.

The platform’s programme also offers workshops, several panels on various aspects of the documentary industry, presentations, round-tables and networking opportunities.

The ten selected projects are as follows:

As Far as I Can Recall - Ileana Gabriela Szasz (Romania)
Don’t Be Afraid - Linda Paganelli (Germany/Romania/Italy)
Fragments of Ice - Maria Stoianova (Ukraine)
Heavy Roots - Jacopo Marzi (Italy/Romania)
No Place for You in Our Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nikolay Stefanov (Bulgaria)
Our Men - Mirona Radu (Romania)
Telciu - Vlad Petri (Romania)
The Gate Between Us - Ioana Trifu (Moldova/Romania)
Touch of Love - Pavel Ruzyak (Czech Republic)
Where the Dog Buried? - Tatyana Dorodnisina, Andrii Lytvynenko (Ukraine)