Only two days away from the start of One World Romania #16, which brings the public over 35 documentaries, three retrospectives and several side events. While the main section and – this year’s theme – is dedicated to the concept of “good life”, the other four sections showcase films that talk about acts of resistance, the past as reflected in the present, the impact of labour / work on our lives, and the interconnectedness between humans and nature. We asked the OWR team (curators and selection team) to recommend 10 must-see films from the program, and we hope, like the organisers, that this will be an invitation to seek and build a better future.

Republic of Silence (dir. Diana El Jeiroudi)

Diana El Jeiroudi’s Republic of Silence is a personal, diary film that covers 12 years of the director and her partner’s life, from the revolution and war in Syria under the dictatorship of Assad to their exile in Europe. Through a non-linear narrative, where scattered fragments of the past blend with present-day moments, El Jeiroudi immerses us in the struggles of two people to live a “normal life”, to tame this silent land between two realities and times, which impacts most of those forced to leave their country because of the war. An intense and difficult journey, a testimony to the impressive resilience of El Jeiroudi and her husband in their long battle with Silence, which “can be a protest. It can be a wound. It can be pain. Oppression,” as the filmmaker herself remarks. Perhaps even a confessional film about how cinema can sometimes save lives.

Hafreiat (dir. Alex Sardà)

Hafreiat is Alex Sardà’s debut film. Taking an observational approach, the camera sometimes seems almost glued to the character’s skin, while maintaining a respectful and thoughtful distance from its protagonist. A man works on an archaeological site in Jordan under the scorching sun – a gruelling, low-paying job, but the only one available for someone like him. The film’s archaeological digs are a structural form of its narrative as it unravels the tumultuous history behind the character’s intense eyes. We witness the struggle of a man who dares to want a better life for himself and his family in a society that makes him invisible, and in a community that still repudiates him. Hafreiat is one of those films, which gradually reveal their essence, in the folds of an apparently simple story about a social outcast, managing to unveil complex social realities and asking fundamental questions about rehabilitation and the right to a second chance.

The Eclipse (dir. Nataša Urban)

Shot on 16 and 8mm, Nataša Urban’s film portrays how the past is reflected in the present through a very personal approach. The director structures her film between the solar eclipse of 1961 and that of 1999. The two eclipses are used as a metaphor for the psyche of a country marked by turbulent times and atrocious events (the disintegration of former Yugoslavia, the transition from “brotherhood and unity” to tribal nationalism, and the bloody wars in the Balkans) and the different narratives created around them.

Adopting a present-day perspective, the director confronts close family members and friends about the war that happened 30 years ago in the Balkans, combining individual biographies with collective ones. The discrepancies between the “official” history and the personal micro-histories highlight the tactility of the process of recalling a common experience filtered defensively through a subjective and selective memory.

Etilaat Roz (dir. Abbas Rezaie)

A monumental feat of courage, directorial instinct and investigative dedication, Etilaat Roz follows the titular independent newspaper’s editorial team as they come to terms with the departure of the US army and the impending threat of the Taliban’s arrival in power in Afghanistan. Remaining within the safety of the newspaper’s sun-baked headquarters, we watch alongside Rezaie’s stoic camera as the existential threat to both journalism and human lives becomes increasingly real. With each scene and day that go by, hopelessness is replaced by pragmatism as the editorial team attempt to save Etilaat Roz from extinction – in both material and human form – and keep the burning flame of truth and justice alive. 

Riotsville, USA (dir. Sierra Pettengill)

Faced with increasing social unrest – anti-war protests and a growing civil-rights movement – the US government gathered a commission to assess root causes and provide solutions. The 1967 findings confirmed the reality of a deeply segregated United States, and offered two recommendations: use the equivalent of the Vietnam war’s budget to balance social inequality or double down and militarise the police force. Using archives of the titular fictional town’s military drills and the cultural climate of the 1960s, Riotsville, USA is an indicting essay film that deconstructs this historical turning point of the United States of America – and exposes not just state violence but the legitimate reaction of citizens to resist it.

Anyox (dir. Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora)

Anyox was a booming mining town in remote British Columbia in the early 20th century, owned by a mining company and closed in 1935. Today, the two remaining inhabitants of this ghost town attempt to clean up the massive piles of industrial waste left behind, much like two modern-day Sisyphuses. The over 3-minute long opening shot, showing a miner on a train making its way through mountains of rubble, has an almost hypnotic effect, immersing us into the apocalyptic and ravaged beauty of the former copper mine. Anyox is not only a story about the exploitation of nature, but also about the exploitation of man by man, about the first labour disputes, strikes and attempts at unionisation by workers (mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe), and the state’s response to these through harsh repressive policies.

A Provincial Hospital (dir. Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov, Zlatina Teneva)

Directors Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov, and Zlatina Teneva bring us back into the middle of the pandemic in A Provincial Hospital in Bulgaria. What might seem like an ordinary and all too familiar story for the Romanian viewer, becomes a unique testimony of solidarity and resilience, full of humour and empathy. Shot over the course of 70 days, often in cramped spaces and life-and-death situations, the observational style mixes with participatory elements. A moving snapshot of the dynamics between patients and medical staff, of small gestures full of humanity. And showing how the shortcomings of an underfunded and overburdened health system are sometimes tackled through the power of motivation for work serving the common good and through the only remaining antidote in the face of despair: empathy and a dash of typical Balkan humour.

Divine Factory (dir. Joseph Mangat)

Charming and intimate, Joseph Mangat’s Divine Factory is a beautiful portrait of the unsung workers of a Filipino factory of handmade, mass-produced Christian knick-knacks. Starting from the street-level showroom to the back office and the factory’s production floors, Mangat maps out Christianity’s commercialisation and capitalist hierarchy with the lively contours of its human microcosm. Without stepping foot outside the factory grounds – with one, devotional exception – the all-too real social and political conflicts of the Philippines make themselves seen and heard within its walls. The sanctuary of capitalist labour takes on a new meaning, coloured by the spoken and witnessed lives of its harmonious, all-inclusive community of workers.

Geographies of Solitude (dir. Jacquelyn Mills)

Jacqueline Mills’ debut is nothing short of extraordinary, immersing the viewer into the spiritual and organic existential continuum of Sable Island and Zoe Lucas, the naturalist / environmentalist who has remained the island’s only human inhabitant for 40 years. A chronicle of Lucas’ exhaustive documentation of the island’s daily, incremental changes of its ecosystem, Geographies of Solitude takes the artistic leap into essayistic poetry as nature’s harmonious cycle of life and death is juxtaposed with the all-too real intrusion of human presence – for better, or worse. Shot entirely on 16mm and complemented by a sound design that captures the microtonal resonance of the island’s living organisms, it is a sensorial, cinematic experience not to be missed.

Between Revolutions (dir. Vlad Petri)

Vlad Petri’s new documentary, Between Revolutions, offers a unique perspective on the reverberations of the past into the present. Two friends and medical students in 1970s Bucharest are separated by political events, but find connection through letters, defying distance and turmoil. Framed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the 1989 Romanian Revolution, this hybrid film skillfully combines propaganda with poetry, intimate letters with secret service archives. The result is a portrait of the intrinsic relationship between history and individual destiny, as well as the struggle of two women to make themselves heard in the tumult of their times.

The film had its world premiere this year in the Forum section at Berlinale, where it was also awarded the FIPRESCI Prize, and we are delighted to have it at the OWR closing gala.

One World Romania International Documentary & Human Rights Film Festival is curated by Anca Păunescu and Andrei Tănăsescu, assisted by a preselection team. This year, One World Romania takes place between March 31 – April 9.

Redacție

An article written by the magazine's team