One World Romania is one of those initiatives I can't applaud often enough, a film festival with a big heart, a sharp edge, and relentless enthusiasm. Taking place every year in March in Bucharest, the fest showing international documentaries on human rights issues is easily one of the highlights of my year.

Having started as a Czech project, One World has grown to be an international festival, with editions and sister festivals in such countries such as the US, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, the UK, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Sweden, Poland, or South Africa.

Its presence in Romania is welcome not only due to its good selection of films and discussed themes but also because this country has been in urgent need of initiatives discussion and promoting matters of social equality as well as (looking at the state of local newsmaking often mistaking gossip for 'relevant' news) being aware of these issues worldwide. The fact that these films are shown in compelling programmes coupled with catching side events is a fortunate bonus.

True to their idea of broadening the discussion on such issues, including educational programmes, the festival tours the country every autumn and this year they have managed to cover almost the entire territory in one month (November 1st to November 23rd), from Timișoara to Iași and across the border to Chișinău. The other toured cities were: Oradea, Reșița, Sfântu Gheorghe, Buzău, Miercurea Ciuc, Târgu Mureș and Cluj-Napoca.

Not all the films screened were my favourites from their main Bucharest event but there were some really strong titles in there: the wonderful Revision, a thrilling detective story which leaves you with a hole in your stomach and says more about racism (and humanity, for that matter) than a million academic studies, the spine-chilling The Act of Killing, showing that reality can be a million times more grotesque than any fictional story, or Fortress, an intimate and revealing look at Transnistria. Other titles may be less striking but nevertheless truthful accounts of realities not uncommon to past and contemporary Romania: the phenomenon of the children left behind by parents working abroad (Aici... adică acolo/Here... I Mean There), the ones struggling with their parents decision to leave the country as a family (Anatomia unei plecări/Anatomy of a Departure) or the painful and yet largely unreflected antisemitic past (Odessa).

The strongest asset of the festival though is its focused, no-nonsense discussions with experts on each topic depicted onscreen and it's a shame that the tour screenings lacked those but still, I hope many cinemas were filled, eyes opened, minds changed and beliefs challenged.

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com