One of Romania's leading events in the European film community, the Astra Film Festival, returns for its 29th edition from October 9 to 16, bringing investigative journalism to its core to the Thalia Hall, Astra Film Cinema, the "Lucian Blaga" University Library, and CineGold Sibiu. 

Romania's leading journalists, including Paula Herlo and Alex Dima of Pro TV, Mihai Voinea and Cristian Delcea of Recorder, and Răzvan Butaru of TVR, are making their big-screen production debut. 

"We continue the thematic programs of the Astra Film Festival, in order to be able to explore a series of topics of maximum interest, exposed through the force of documentary cinema on the big screen. We will thus create that living space of dialogue between filmmakers, guests, specialists, and the public," says Dumitru Budrala, AFF's showrunner and director. 

The Recorder team, alongside Razvan Chiruta from PressHub and Catalin Striblea, will present their latest founding in "The Price of Silence," chronicling the practice of political parties purchasing the media with a large sum of money from the state budget. 

War, another hot, most talked-about topic, will be the center of "The Unseen Face of War," a touching visual on the Ukrainian crisis, Anja Kofmel's take on the breakup of Yugoslavia on "Chriss the Swiss," and the life of a young Swedish couple who joined ISIS in "Children of the Enemy."

Paula Herlo's "Romania with Everything" investigation centers around the deep-rooted corruption in the country - most specifically how funds dedicated to the local communities end up in the pockets of the higher-ups. 

Another top-notch investigative visual, "Business Behind the Curtain" by TVR's Razan Butaru and "The State of Deception" by Pro TV's Alex Dima, will enliven the annual celebration of on-screen excellence, which will start on October 6 at the Thalia Hall with an opening gala. 

The complete program of Astra Film Festival 2022 is available here.

rafly@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Astra Film Festival)