An increase in duration from seven to nine days is not the only first for the 32nd edition of the Astra Film Festival (17-26 October), Romania’s longest-running documentary gathering: after helping develop hundreds of documentaries through its former industry platform DocTank, the festival unveils a new partnership with Ex Oriente Film, which holds its second session of this year’s feature programme in Sibiu, after a first one held at Sheffield Doc/Fest back in June.

The teams behind 11 documentary projects (see the news) have already arrived in Astra to attend five days of master classes, lectures and practical sessions with tutors such as Danish consultant Gitte Hansen, Czech director Filip Remunda (whose Happiness to All [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Filip Remunda
fiche film] is competing in the festival’s Eastern Europe Competition), Bosnian director Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová, Syrian helmer Diana El Jeiroudi and Romanian producer Christian Popp. Danish editor Niels Pagh Andersen, British director-producer Emma Davie, Georgian director-producer Salomé Jashi, French producer Christilla Huillard-Kahn, Czech director Jan Gogola Jr, German consultant Stefan Rüll and French distributor Stephan Riguet are the guest tutors for this edition.

The manager of Ex Oriente Film, Anna Kaslová, tells Cineuropa that there are a few “phantom threads” connecting the projects: “What we’re seeing a lot of right now are stories set in blurred moral areas, where characters and societies often face the pre-collapse or disruption of social, political, environmental, or even personal systems. Some unfold in prisons, war-torn cities or polluted towns, while at the same time bringing very personal perspectives – exploring identity and questions of belonging on a deeply human level,” Kaslová explains.

“These filmmakers are confronting systems of oppression, displacement, gender identity and ecological decay – but they do so with tenderness and creative courage, rather than despair. For us, that’s essential: Ex Oriente Film should respond to the urgency of today’s world not by adding to the noise, but by creating space for reflection, empathy and resistance through the art of storytelling,” is how the manager describes the projects, which may well end up scooping awards at festivals in the near future.

Kaslová also praises the line-up of Astra, which comprises 70 titles (see the news), and artistic director Csilla Kató, who helped enrich what Ex Oriente Film has to offer its participants in the second session. “With the support of Astra, we will also have the opportunity to hear from Romanian producer, director and co-founder of the Transilvania International Film Festival Oana Giurgiu, who will present an overview of the Romanian film industry landscape. Additionally, we will welcome three Romanian producers and directors, as well as a Romanian TV commissioning editor, as observers in the session.”

The third and final session of Ex Oriente Features will take place in Prague in March 2026, in partnership with the One World Film Festival and East Doc Platform.