The 13th edition of the One World Romania International Human Rights and Documentary Film Festival will take place between August 21 and 30, both physically, in outdoor locations, and online. Verde Stop Arena will host the opening night and the documentary film Acasă, My Home (dir. Radu Corniciuc), awarded at Sundance, will be screened in the presence of the team and the protagonists.

This year, the festival will focus on the “Man without any clear identity in the eyes of the majority, neither rural, nor urban – in short, the foreigner, the minority, the margin, the periphery, everything that is not included in that said majority. Depending on the context, it can be a Roma, as well as a homosexual, an economically disadvantaged person or a refugee or immigrant.”

One World Romania 13 celebrates the recent progress, albeit slow, in accepting and integrating minorities in the Romanian mentality. To this end, one of the main themes of the festival is dedicated to the Roma culture, which is explored in a historical and contemporary context.

The documentaries in the program cover current issues and, for the first time at OWR, they will be evaluated by a jury formed of Romanian and international professionals.

This year’s edition of the festival includes the following sections:

Love Thy Neighbor

This year, the central program of the festival is dedicated to the Roma minority. According to its introduction, it is for the first time, a century and a half after the abolition of slavery, when „those who have freed themselves from prejudice against the Roma people have outnumbered the ones who still do not accept them as their equals in society.”

The films from this category go beyond the cliché of black and white images, with Roma people seen from a distance, through an anthropological filter, and give the audience the chance to really dive into the Roma culture and explore its past (Django Reinhardt by Paul Paviot, Taikon by Lawen Mohtadi, Gellert Tamas), as well as its present (Acasa, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc), but also its cinema and filmmakers, through films such as Latcho drom (dir. Tony Gatlif), Searching for the 4th Nail (dir. George Eli), How Far the Stars (dir. Katalin Bársony).

International Competition

The films in the International Competition bring into the spotlight our today’s society and its most pressing issues which are presented from the different perspectives of their authors.

Justice in Unjust Times

Already a tradition by now, the section of the festival dedicated to the rule of law will extend this year to exploring the judicial and prison system, historical traumas and current conflicts.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights

This section is about strong women, seen through the eyes of female directors. They talk about rape and the acts that can be included in the meaning of the word, about the search for a better life, and how difficult it is sometimes for a woman to make herself heard out.

Which Way Home?

It aims to illustrate all phases of the migration journey, from leaving the country of origin, passing through the transition period and the process of adapting to a foreign and often hostile culture. Hassan Fazili (Midnight Traveler) records his own journey with his iPhone, when he is forced to flee Afghanistan with his family, after the Taliban sentenced him to death.

Living on the Edge

It talks about people who are being marginalised by different societies in today’s world on account of their race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation or their impoverished predicaments.

Political Bodies

OWR dedicates a section to the LGBTQi+ individuals and the issues they experience in contemporary society. The screenings will be accompanied by Q&A sessions with members of the LGBTQi+ community and associations fighting to defend their rights.

Trendsetters

Five films made by five of the world’s most important filmmakers, who may not be so well known in Romania, and a big opportunity for the public to get acquainted with their cinema.

Retrospective Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman is one of the iconic figures of modernist cinema, along with her editor and closest collaborator from the last decades, Claire Atherton. This section brings to the public a wide selection of essential and radical films.

Retrospective Ross Mcelwee

Ross Mcelwee’s films have a unique cinematic style, as they are recorded with a smaller, lighter camera, sync-sound and the filmmaker even doubling as an editor. Mcelwee and his family – as well as their native (US) South – are the emblematic and universal figures in his intimate, funny, but also profound documentaries.

The International Documentary Film Festival and Human Rights – One World Romania will take place between August 21-30. For more information visit the OWR website. Tickets are available online on Eventbook.ro and for physical purchase in the Eventbook partner locations network.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.