The 12th edition of the fARAD International Documentary Film Festival opens on Wednesday, at Cinema Arta in Arad, the theme this year being propaganda, informs the organizers in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday.
Besides the documentary films, the festival also brings debates and Q&A sessions with special guests.
The festival will open with the screening of the film "Bright Future", directed by Andra MacMasters, followed by a Q&A with the director. The documentary, previously developed within the fARAD Laboratory, captures through archival images the World Festival of Youth and Students organized in North Korea in 1989, just a few months before the fall of communism, "offering a unique perspective on the idealism of young socialists from 177 countries and the contrast between the utopia of solidarity and the geopolitical realities of the era".
Other scheduled screenings include "The Venerable W.", directed by Barbet Schroeder, a shocking portrait of Buddhist extremism in Myanmar; "Revue", directed by Sergei Loznitsa, an exploration of Soviet propaganda in the 1960s, "The Propagandist", directed by Luuk Bouwman, the story of the most influential Nazi filmmaker in the Netherlands, "The Kingmaker", directed by Lauren Greenfield), a film about the return to power of the Marcos family in the Philippines and "F@ck This Job", directed by Vera Krichevskaya, the story of the only independent TV station in Russia and its fight against state propaganda.
Among the Romanian titles, there will be screened "Eight Postcards from Utopia", directed by Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz.
In addition to the thematic selection, fARAD is introducing for the first time this year a competition of documentary and hybrid short films from Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Made by emerging filmmakers and screened within three special programmes, the 13 selected titles will be followed by Q&A sessions with the authors present in Arad.
In addition to the film programme, the fARAD Laboratory is also returning, now in its 10th edition - a creative development space dedicated to young filmmakers with documentary projects in various stages of development. The three participating projects this year come from the Republic of Moldova and are: "Moldovan Utopia", directed by Iurie Tocmas, "When Sky Was High", directed by Veaceslav Cebotari, and "Sentence from Birth", directed by Daniela Miron and Diana Vlas.
Initiated and developed as an event dedicated to educating the public through images, but also to revitalising interest in art film, the fARAD Festival was launched in 2014 at the initiative of Corina Suteu, the festival's president, and Insula 42, in collaboration with the Arad Municipal Cultural Centre.
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