Luna.doc, the documentary film festival for high school students, organized by the Bloc Zero Association, in partnership with One World Romania through the One World at School program, takes place between October 19 – November 10, 2020.

Now at its 7th edition, the event is dedicated to teachers and students from all over the country, who have the chance to watch online 8 feature, medium and short documentaries, gathered under this year’s festival theme – fake news.

Who delivers fake news and why? What is independent, objective and successful journalism really about? How can truth be reached in an ethical way? What is the connection between social media and fake news? These are only some of the questions raised by the films in the festival program.

“I chose the phenomenon of fake news as the theme of this edition because there’s a pressing need for accurate information, at a time when the avalanche of news on the Internet and in the media can end up doing more harm than good.” – Andreea Marcu, Bloc Zero Association.

The documentaries available on the festival platform are:

Fake News Fairytale (dir. Kate Stonehill, 2018, UK, Macedonia, 18’)

Our New President (dir. Maxim Pozdorovkin, 2018, USA, Russia, 77’)

Personal Truth (dir. Charlie Shackleton, 2017, UK, 17’)

ANAS v. the GIANT (dir. Adrienne Collatos, 2019, Germany, USA, 17’)

The Cleaners (dir. Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck, 2018, Germany, Brazil, 88’)

Slow News (dir. Alberto Puliafito, 2020, Italy, 52’)

Bellingcat – Truth in a Post-Truth World (dir. Hans Pool, 2018, Netherlands, 88’)

Nellie Bly Makes the News (dir. Penny Lane, 2019, USA, 23’)

During the festival, students and teachers can watch for free the films in the program, but first, teachers have to create an account on the Kinoteca Bloc Zero website – the ‘luna.doc festival’ section, and register by filling out this form. After creating the account, a secure viewing link is provided for each documentary, which can be shared with students, and is valid for 24 hours.

Besides the film screenings, high school students also have the opportunity to participate for free in 10 online workshops on media education, held by Romanian journalists. Each discussion is 2 hours long and takes place on Zoom. Those who wish to take part in these workshops are invited to fill in this registration form.

The luna.doc festival also hosts the presentation of a short digital guide for accurate information, created by Bloc Zero and Scena9, documented and written by journalist Andrei Petre, a short video on the steps to follow for accurate information, and the results of a micro-research conducted by sociologists Monica Stroe and Sebastian Toc, on the means used by adolescents to get informed.

Between October 19 – November 10, the luna.doc festival invites teachers and students in Romania to watch the selection of films on the event platform. For more details and other news, visit the Kinoteca Bloc Zero website or the Facebook page.

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.