Astra Film Festival, in the European Film Awards network of the most important documentary film festivals

The Astra Film Festival has been included in the European Film Awards network of the most important documentary film festivals, and the organizers of the Sibiu Documentary Film Festival receive the right to make proposals for the European Film Academy Awards.

The Council of the European Film Academy has decided to include the Astra Film Festival in the list of major documentary film festivals in the world, including non-fiction film festivals such as IDFA, Vision du Reel, Cinema du Reel, CPH Dox or category A festivals, which have documentary film sections such as Cannes, Berlin (Berlinale), Venice, Locarno, Sarajevo, Salt Lake City (Sundance) or Tribeca.

As a result of this decision, the organizers of the Astra Film Festival will be able to make direct nominations for this year’s European Film Academy Awards, considered to be the European Oscar.

Since 1988, the European Film Awards have been celebrating excellence in film production. The European Film Awards ceremony takes place in December in Berlin, in odd-numbered years, and in other European cities, in even-numbered years.

This year, the ceremony will take place in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik. Nominations must be made by May 31, and official nominations will be announced by November 8.

“We are delighted with this recognition of the European prestige of the Astra Film Festival. It is a confirmation of the professionalism proved by our festival for three decades, as a result of a sustained effort, hard to imagine”, said Dumitru Budrala, founding director of Astra Film Festival.

Documentaries eligible for the 2022 European Film Academy Awards must be feature films (at least 70 minutes), European productions and have been officially released between June 2021 and May 2022. In addition, they must meet at least one of the following conditions: : have been awarded at a major festival (such as the Astra Film Festival) or have been selected for at least three major festivals or have been released in cinemas in at least three countries.

Thus, European films awarded at the Astra Film Festival, which meet the criteria set out above, automatically qualify for nominations at the European Film Awards. In addition, all European films in the official AFF selection now have an extra chance to be nominated, including those from the AFF2021 edition.