“Mariupolis 2” in the opening of Anonimul Independent Film Festival

The international festival for independent film, Anonimul is kicking off in southeastern Sfantu Gheorghe, the Danube Delta, on Monday, with the screening of “Mariupolis 2”, the last film of Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, captured by the Russian army and killed in the Ukrainian region of Mariupol, the Ministry of Culture announced on its Facebook page.

The documentary, unfinished by the Lithuanian director, was set up in record time by his fiancee, Hanna Bilobrova, along with the project’s producers, in order to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Bilobrova and Kvedaravicius returned to film once more in Mariupol, in full war, to document the people and places they had filmed in 2015 for the documentary ‘Mariupolis’. The director intended to show how the lives of these people continue among bombing, with images on the edge between tragedy and hope. ‘Mariupolis 2’ is a compilation of images filmed by the documentary maker, without any voice or music, and contains long shots from the daily life of people trying to survive the war, ‘a testimony of human resistance’, says a press release by the Anonimul organizers.

The Anonimul Festival includes two Romanian and international short films’ competitions. For the Romanian short film competition 12 titles were selected, while 10 productions were picked for the international shorts’ competition.

The competition’s selection of feature films was conducted by Ludmila Cvikova, the trophy being disputed by 5 films: “107 Mothers”, a Slovakian-Czech-Ukrainian production, directed by Peter Kerekes, “I’m So Sorry”, a Chinese production, directed by Zhao Liang, “Mighty Flash”, a Spanish production, directed by Ainhoa Rodrigues, “Talking About the Weather”, a German production, directed by Annika Pinske and “Zuhal”, a Turkish production, directed by Nazli Elif Durlu.

Hors competition, 13 cinema productions will be screened.

“The prizes for short films and feature films are public vote awarded. The public will also benefit from feature film screenings, accompanied by meetings and dialogues between filmmakers and the audience,” the Ministry of Culture announced.

The cultural project organized by the Anonimul Foundation and the FAMart Association is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, the National Center of Cinematography (CNC), the Tulcea County Council, the Union of Romanian Filmmakers and Dacin Sara.