The European Film Academy Council has added Astra Film Festival (AFF) to the list of major documentary film festivals, the organizers of the Romanian event said. The list includes events such as IDFA, Vision du Reel, Cinema du Reel, CPH Dox or important festivals with a documentary section.

Following this decision, the organizers of Astra will be able to make direct nominations for the European Film Awards.

The documentaries eligible for the 2022 European Film Academy awards need to have feature-length (at least 70 minutes), be European productions, and be launched officially between June 2021 and May 2022. They also need to fulfill at least one of the following conditions: to have been awarded at a major festival, selected at least three major festivals, or released in cinemas in at least three countries.

As such, the European films awarded at Astra Film Festival that met the criteria above automatically qualify for a nomination at the European Film Awards. Furthermore, all the European films in the official selection of Astra now stand an additional chance of being nominated, AFF said.

“We are happy to see this recognition of the European prestige that Astra Film Festival has. It is a confirmation of the proven professionalism of our festival over three decades,” Dumitru Budrala, the founding director of AFF, said.

Established in 1993, the Sibiu-based festival is a major platform for documentary films in the country and in Europe.

(Photo: Alex Damian, courtesy of Astra Film Festival)

simona@romania-insider.com