Held over seven days during the 28th edition of the Astra Film Festival (5-12 September, Sibiu), the festival’s DokTank industry platform and its pitching contest, Astra Film Lab, have now announced the winning projects, which hail from Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

The Pitch the Doc Award went to Moldovan filmmaker Mihai Nichiforeac’s On Term, a film that uses the country’s mandatory military service as a starting point to discuss what masculinity means in Eastern Europe. The documentary also explores the director’s relationship with his father, a lifelong professional soldier, and the problematic effect that military service has on three young recruits.

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The Docs in Progress Award went to Hungarian director Máté Fuchs’ Hatchery, a film about Mariann, a young Hungarian on the autistic spectrum who lives in a toxic and abusive environment. Fuchs also plans to show the effects of the illiberal decision-making of populist prime minister Viktor Orbán on the country’s generation of young people. The Astra Film Lab jury described the project as a “portrait made with great sensitivity about a woman who tries to find independence and freedom in an intolerant and discriminative society”.

Finally, the Docs in Development Award went to Romanian filmmaker Ana Vijdea’s Mothership, a documentary essay (or an “auto-fictional essay”, as the director puts it) about the different forms of abuse that Mara, a 30-year-old woman, had to put up with as she grew up in South-Eastern Romania. Domestic violence is an important part of this film, inspired by the director’s own experiences. The Astra Film Lab jury described the project as having “a clear focus and a well-articulated vision, dealing with a hard and tough subject in a lyrical and innovative fashion”.

Here are the three winning projects at the 2021 Astra Film Lab:

Pitch the Doc Award
On Term – Mihai Nichiforeac (Moldova)
Production: Pumba Creative Studio (Vadim Septichim)

Docs in Progress Award
Hatchery - Máté Fuchs (Hungary)
Production: Little Bus Production KFT (Krisztina Meggyes)

Docs in Development Award
Mothership – Ana Vijdea (Romania)
Production: Numa Film (Horaţiu Curuţiu)