The 16th edition of the One World Romania International Documentary Film and Human Rights Festival will take place at the weekend of October 13-15 in Brasov under the theme “A good life.”

“The theme of this year’s edition is reflected in a playbill that contextualises and questions how the philosophical concept of good finds multiple portraits in today’s culture and society, oscillating between immediate individual satisfaction and sustainable collective well-being. Other established themes of the festival, such as migration and the refugee, recovering recent history or vulnerable communities, both globally and amid the war in Ukraine, will not be ignored. Among the questions we ask ourselves with the help of this year’s films are: How can a society fulfill its duty to all social strata and provide them with the necessary means to reach their true potential? What are the moral and ethical dilemmas and/or trade-offs we face and, by extension, the destructive consequences of these decisions on other nations?” organisers say in a statement.

The opening of the festival takes place on Friday, October 13, at 20:30hrs, with the preview of the documentary “Intre revolutii’ (Between Revolutions), which uses file pictures to reconstruct the story of a Romanian student and an Iranian student who become friends during their studies in Communist Romania and they are going through the tumult of the revolutions in their countries. The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Vlad Petri.

On Saturday, October 14, “This Rain Will Never Stop” tells the story of a family that fled the Syrian Civil War and ended up in Ukraine, and “Fabulous” follows a group of middle-aged transgender friends who meet again in the villa that witnessed their identity searches.

On Sunday, also at the Astra Cinema Hall, “The Eastern Front” presents a harrowing account of the first months of the war in Ukraine. The documentary will be preceded by the short film “When I Grow Up”, made as part of the #EducationNoMatterWhat campaign run by the European Commission. The closing film, “All that Breathes,” is the story of brothers who run a hospital for birds in New Delhi where birds fall daily from the polluted sky.

The One World Romania International Documentary Film and Human Rights Festival was founded in 2008 by the Czech Centre in Bucharest. In Brasov, the event is organised with support from the Artburg Cultural Association.