In these times, it looks like the whole events and entertainment sector has moved online or has been postponed for the next year or for a date that hasn’t been decided yet. That includes parties, concerts and, in this case, film festivals. One World Romania is one of the most beloved film festivals in our country and the best place where you can discover documentaries for your own taste. Until the event can be held again, in late summer or fall, OWR has prepared for the public several online events. Film screenings that can be watched from the comfort of your own home, followed by online discussions on Zoom.

Why are online screenings so necessary now and how well were they received by the public? What films can we watch within the One World Cineclub program until September? Andrei Rus (artistic director) and Vanina Vignal (main programmer) talk about the online events, how they work and about the Q&A sessions on Zoom, in the following interview.

You have announced that One World Romania 2020 is most likely postponed for the end of the summer or the fall. What motivated you to organize these online events until then?

Not only did we have to postpone the festival, but we also had to cancel the Cineclub we used to organize on the side, for a year and 5 months, once every two weeks, at POINT. When we realized that the festival would have to be postponed, not until May, as we initially intended, nor until the end of June, but probably until the end of summer, we thought it would be nice to come with something to our audience during this time, which could also be seen as a chance to get into the festival atmosphere. This way we can also introduce the filmmakers invited to the festival to our local audience, and get them accustomed with the online format. Although we really wish for the possibility of holding most of the events and screenings in cinemas and other physical spaces – and, at least at the moment, there seems to be a good chance to do that -, we are also aware that some of the viewers will be reluctant to the idea of indoor areas or outdoor screenings and, especially, since some of the guests who confirmed their presence before will no longer be able to physically come to Bucharest. Therefore, the festival, which will take place between August 21-30, will definitely have an important online component.

What are the projects and screenings that will be held online between May and September?

First of all, during this period we will organize the 13th edition of One World Romania, which will take place, as I said before, at the end of August. We have the same films and sections as in the beginning and the program can be consulted here, but the new dates and locations will be announced in the coming weeks, they weren’t updated yet, as we are still waiting to see what the authorities will decide regarding cultural events.

And until then, once every two weeks, on Friday evening, we will have online discussions, on our Facebook page, with some of the important guests of the festival, within the series we called The Waiting Room (Anticamera). First of all, we will have our two special guests, to whom we dedicate retrospectives in OWR 13: Claire Atherton (film editor and close collaborator with filmmaker Chantal Akerman) and Ross McElwee, American documentary filmmaker known for his autobiographical and journal films. Filmmakers Claire Simon, Irene Lusztig, Radu Jude and the Indian-British distributor Mehelli Modi will also be among our online discussion partners. The dates for June-July can be found below, but before that, we need to mention that you can also watch some of their previous films on our platform on the Eventbook website, if you want to get acquainted with their work before seeing their new films at the festival.

Friday, June 5, 8 p.m.

Online discussion with Irene Lusztig

Friday, June 19, 8 p.m.

Online discussion with Claire Atherton

Friday, July 3, 8 p.m.

Online discussion with Claire Simon and Ross McElwee

Friday, July 17, 8 p.m.

Online discussion with Radu Jude and Mehelli Modi

How did you choose the films for the online screenings? Do they reflect, in any way, the present situation or, on the contrary, the intention was to see them as an “escape” from everyday reality?

We thought of them as a warm-up for the 13th edition which had to be rescheduled, and as a means of keeping in touch, in this uncertain time, with our audience and those interested in documentary film.

How do these online screenings work? How many of them are free and how many require a ticket?

The films are available only by purchasing tickets on Eventbook; tickets are 10 RON/film, or 5 RON/film (with discount). Those who have purchased festival passes can watch them for free. The films become available one week before the online discussions with their filmmakers, to give viewers the chance to get acquainted with them, and remain available for another 3 weeks after. After purchasing a ticket, viewers have 48 hours to watch the movie.

The screenings are followed by a live Q&A on Zoom, a platform that has already become very familiar to most of us. Zoom is now used for courses, school lessons, brainstorming sessions, work meetings or friendly chats. Who takes part in the discussion?

Indeed, we organize these discussions using the Zoom platform, but they appear on the festival’s Facebook page. Everyone in the audience is invited to actively participate in these meetings, even if they don’t want to speak: we really want to get close, as much as we can, to that movie theater atmosphere. At the same time, this type of format, where viewers are right there with us, during that particular Zoom session, helps our guests a lot and also helps us, because there’s a different contact with the public. But these dialogues can also be viewed remotely, “in the shadows”, directly on our Facebook page.

Can these Zoom meetings be considered more “intimate” than a Q&A session that would have taken place in the theater hall after the screening?

From certain points of view, they are more intimate, because both filmmakers and the other discussion guests, as well as the public, are in the privacy of their own homes, and fragments of their daily life inevitably slide through their computer screen. But, from other points of view, it’s a different feeling than having them in a movie theater, because the preparation in advance is different, much deeper, and the discussions usually take place after the viewers spent a few hours in the dark, in a neutral space – not in their room -, in the company of that film. The two experiences entail a completely different kind of ritual.

Can the discussions be watched after the live session as well?

Yes, they remain on our Facebook page and are also uploaded to our YouTube channel.

Which film are you most waiting for and why? I’m sure they are all extremely interesting and my question is like asking you to choose your “favorite child”, but I’m curious which of the online events you think no one should miss out.

Vanina: Those with our special guests, who have the two retrospectives during the festival, more precisely with Claire Atherton and Ross McElwee.

Andrei: I can’t really choose one, I’m excited about all of them just as much. But I need to say that I look forward to meeting them in person, at the festival.

Besides the online screenings followed by live discussions, you also offer access to films which have been previously shown within the Cineclub. Where can you watch them now and for how long are they available?

They’re available for a month, and then new titles are in. Now we have the seven films in the Wittstock fantastic series made by Volker Koepp during the communist East Germany and immediately after the country’s transition to a capitalist system. The series presents the journey of three women, employed at a factory in this boring little town, from the 1970s until the 1990s, long after the factory was closed down, and they had to find new jobs and rebuild their lives. The films are available here, on our platform on Eventbook, between June 1-30.

What are the biggest challenges in organizing an online event/screening you have noticed so far?

To make sure you and your guests have a good internet connection.

The whole situation with the coronavirus gave us a kind of “clean slate”, one that we could use for change, a reset. There has been a visible change in the way people interact with each other, in private but also in public, in the way they make the decision to go out (or not). What were the differences you noticed about the OWR audience? Maybe some of them remained indifferent to the situation and are waiting to get back to the old ways, maybe others have expressed their desire to have access to the documentaries in your archive. What can you tell me about your audience now vs. last year, for example?

We can’t figure this out yet, make assumptions only on the online interactions. We think we might get an idea on this subject after the August edition of the festival. And we hope it will have an important and classic component, since it will definitely have an online one.

Do you intend to keep the online component even after this whole coronavirus story will come to an end? If so, how do you plan to do it?

We will keep it only if we need to, as a way to keep in touch with the public and to continue on supporting the promotion and public discourse related to documentary film. Otherwise, we can’t wait to return to the physical screenings, held in dark rooms and where the interaction with the public is real, not virtual. We seem to be more conservative when it comes to that, otherwise it’s not necessarily in our nature.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.