After ten intense days of quality cinema dedicated to screenings, debates, meetings with filmmakers and the public in Sibiu, Astra Film Festival 2025 continues online. Between October 26 and November 9, documentary lovers from all over Romania have access to a selection of 34 films projected within AF2025, grouped by thematic categories. There are of course films awarded by the AFF2025 jury, such as “Spre West, în Zapata” (David Bim, Cuba, 2025) – the grand prize in the Emerging Voices section, “Viitor luminos” (Andra MacMasters, Romania, 2024) – the directing prize in the Romania Section, “The Unknown Plan of God” (Moritz Mueller-Preisser, Germany, 2025) – the most good documentary in the DocSchool section or “67 milliseconds” (Fleury Fontaine, France, 2025) – the grand prize in the DocShorts short film section. A ticket for a movie at AFF Online costs 25 lei, and a subscription for all 34 movies is 150 lei.
Details on the festival website https://online.astrafilm.ro and on Astra Film Festival's social media pages.
Thematic selectionUm Astra Film Online
Subject How do you become an adult, how do you become pUmRintala includes films about transitions, unconventional families, loss and coming of age: “Portrait of a Confused Father” (Gunnar Hall Jensen, Norway, 2025), “Becoming Roosi” (Margit Lillak, Estonia, 2025), “Pressure Cabin” (Eszter Nagy, Hungary, 2024).
Când the press becomes a factoryUm of news false is a media file about manipulation and fake-news: “#SaveSorina” (Marian Voicu, Romania, 2025) and “Report at the gas station” (Zora Čápová, Czech Republic, 2024).
RUmthe noise from the walls ANDand from the hearti contains four films that explore the war beyond the front, where the walls fall and the human heart becomes the last battlefield: “Happiness for All”, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” (David Borenstein, Denmark, 2024), “The Living” (Anca Hârte, Romania, 2025), “Ceasefire” (Jacob Krese, Germany, 2025), “The Orchards” (Antoine Chaplin, France, 2025).
Through the films about Dictatorships. Survival guide for their possible return “Fine or Death!” (Igor Bezinovi, Croatia, 2025), “Bright Future” (Andra MacMasters, Romania, 2024), we have the privilege of looking into the past, intrigued by the various totalitarian systems that not long ago also dominated the space in which we live today.
The films from the theme Neo-fascism online ANDand offline. vineyardÞour online explores the dark side of the digital world, where online networks become breeding grounds for hatred, manipulation and extremism. From neo-fascist propaganda financed from the shadows, to the real tragedies born of radicalization, the Internet is becoming the truest mirror of contemporary violence. “The German People” (Marcin Wierzchowski, Germany, 2025), “Undercover. Unmasking the Far Right” (Havana Marking, UK, 2024), “Decoding Hate” (Simon Klose, Denmark, 2025), “Digital Apocalypse” (Dylan Reibling, Canada, 2025).
The films from the theme Woman / MomUmat what price? explores the role of women in society: “9-month contract” (Ketevan Vashagashvili, Georgia, 2025), “Fable of the turtle and the flower” (Carolina Campo Lupo, Uruguay, 2025), “The shadow of her” (Myrid Carten, Ireland, 2024).
TOPICS Identity under the spotlight includes films about fragility and identity change: “Temporary Identity” (Roni Levin, Israel, 2025), “The Unknown Plan of God” (Moritz Mueller-Preisser, Germany, 2025), and the theme #The West – a critical lookUm shows us how Europe is viewed from the outside through the documentaries “Marele Tot” (Aminatou Echard, France, 2025) and “Cosmonauts prefer chewing gum” (Aline Helmcke, Bulgaria, 2024).
In the theme The professions ANDand the worlds around themthe films explore people and their jobs beyond appearances: “I, with me, never get bored” (Florian Karner, Germany, 2024), “Optimizing everything” (Florian Karner, Germany, 2024), “The mountain does not move” (Petra Seliškar, France, 2025), “To the West in Zapata” (David Bim, Cuba, 2025).
TOPICS Facade ecologyof corporations includes the investigation “IKEA loves wood” (Tom Heinemann, Denmark, 2024), and from the theme Art as a toolUm of self-exploration ANDand healing two documentaries are part of it: “Miriam Răducanu. Rigor and meaning” (Alexandra Gulea, Romania, 2024), “Suntem ănăuntru” (Farah Kassem, Lebanon, 2024).
Short forms of reality are illustrated in four impactful short films: “Privirile lor” (Nicolae Gourault, France, 2025), “Fragments from the life of the place I call home” (Lazidis Andreas, Greece, 2024), “67 milliseconds” (Fleury Fontaine, France, 2025), “A move” (Elahe Esmaili, Great Britain, 2024).
Through these categories, AFF online offers access to the diversity of documentary cinema and transforms the screen into a space of reflection, empathy and closeness.
About the Astra Film Festival. Founded in 1993, Astra Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in Romania and one of the most prestigious non-fiction events in Europe. It is included in the shortlist of the European Film Academy, having the right to nominate directly at the European Film Awards. AFF, a strategic cultural project of the Ministry of Culture, is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and the Astra Film Foundation, is under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, is co-financed by the Sibiu City Hall and supported by the Sibiu County Council.
Article supported by Astra Film Festival
