23/10/2023 - Films from France, Romania, Georgia and Moldova have shared the festival’s prizes, while the online edition of the gathering continues for viewers in Romania over the next week

Diana Gavra's Amar winning the New Perspectives Award in the Romanian Competition

On 21 October, the exact same date when the first edition of the Sibiu-based Astra Film Festival (15-22 October) kicked off 30 years ago, Romania’s leading documentary gathering handed out its awards, with the Astra Trophy going to Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento’s Adieu Sauvage [+see also:
film review
interview: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
film profile] (Belgium/France). The jury hailed the film’s “multi-layered” approach and “the director’s personal journey to discover his own identity, which opens up a narrative about the consequences of colonialism”.

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From among the ten films competing for the awards in the Central and Eastern European Competition, the jury opted for Nikoloz Bezhanishvili's The Northeast Winds [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Georgia), while Otilia Babara’s Love Is Not an Orange [+see also:
trailer
interview: Otilia Babara
film profile] (Belgium/Netherlands/Moldova/France) received a Special Mention.

The awards in the Romanian Competition, which consists of documentaries either produced in Romania or focusing on a Romanian-related topic, went to Gautier Gumpper's Earth's Sweet Kiss (France), which centres on a Romanian man living under a bridge in Strasbourg as a protest against an injustice he suffered in his birth country. The New Perspectives Award went to Diana Gavra’s Amar (Romania), a film about the life experiences of several Romanian pickpockets.

Andreea Chiper’s short film Dancing at My Parents' Wedding (Romania) received the Best Short Documentary Award, while Alina Maksimenko’s Ptitsa (Poland) picked up the Best Directing Award in the Docschool Competition. Finally, Andreas Boschmann’s Letters to Orsk (Germany), the only feature competing in the Docschool Competition, scooped a Special Mention.

The physical edition of Astra is followed by an online iteration, with more than 40 documentaries still available to viewers in Romania over the next week.

Here is the complete list of awards handed out at Astra 2023:

New Voices of Documentary Cinema Competition

Best Documentary
Adieu Sauvage [+see also:
film review
interview: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
film profile] - Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento (Belgium/France)

Central and Eastern European Competition

Best Documentary
The Northeast Winds [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Nikoloz Bezhanishvili (Georgia)
Special Mention
Love Is Not an Orange [+see also:
trailer
interview: Otilia Babara
film profile] - Otilia Babara (Belgium/Netherlands/Moldova/France)

Romanian Competition

Best Documentary
Earth's Sweet Kiss - Gautier Gumpper (France)

New Perspectives Award
Amar - Diana Gavra (Romania)

Docschool Competition

Best Documentary
Dancing at My Parents' Wedding - Andreea Chiper (Romania, short)

Best Directing
Ptitsa - Alina Maksimenko (Poland, short)
Special Mention
Letters to Orsk - Andreas Boschmann (Germany)