Belgium, Romania, Netherlands, Republic of Moldova
Driven by the need to confront her family’s long-buried secrets, Olga Lucovnicova and her father take an old train to his hometown, Asha, deep in the Ural Mountains. Just as she begins to reconnect with the past, Russia launches a new war. Will the voices of the past be silenced again?
Screenplay Olga Lucovnicova
Cinematography Alana Stoefs, Olga Lucovnicova, Artur Sokolov, Crînguța Pînzaru
Editing Patrick Minks
Sound Andries Essel, Vadim Vorontsov, Marius Leftărache, Dragoș Știrbu
Music Minco Eggersman
Producers Frederick Nicolai, Annabel Verbeke
Co-producers Ada Solomon, Denis Vaslin, Fleur Knopperts, Virgiliu Mărgineanu
Production While We’re Here
Co-production microFILM, Volya Films, OWH Studio
AUDIO: Russian
SUBTITLE: Romanian, English
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinema Elvire Popesco
6:00 PM
94'
Preview screening / Followed by Q&A with director Olga Lucovnicova, producer Ada Solomon, co-producer Virgiliu Mărgineanu and sound designer Victor Miu, moderated by Laura Mușat (Films in Frame founding editor)
Olga Lucovnicova,
Ada Solomon - Film producer, microFILM,
Victor Miu
Olga Lucovnicova
Olga Lucovnicova (Moldova, 1991) is a documentary filmmaker and researcher in audiovisual arts based in Brussels. She won the Golden Bear at the 71st Berlinale and the 35th European Film Academy Award for her short “My Uncle Tudor”. Combining observational cinema with poetic elements, her films explore stories that can spark social change and critical thinking. She graduated from the DocNomads Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Documentary Directing and is currently pursuing a PhD in Belgium on memory and trauma in post-Soviet societies.
Ada Solomon
Film producer, microFILM
Ada Solomon is one of Europe’s most acclaimed producers, known for her bold curatorial vision and commitment to socially relevant cinema. With 100 films to her credit and collaboration with Radu Jude, Ivana Mladenović, Alexandru Solomon and Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), her work has earned top distinctions – from Berlinale’s Golden Bears (Bad Luck Banging, Child’s Pose) to awards in Locarno (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World) and Venice (The New Year that Never Came). A recipient of the EFA Co-Production Award, she continues to redefine European independent cinema. She is serving the film community as Chairperson of the European Film Academy.
Victor Miu
Victor Miu is a sound designer and sound editor based in Bucharest, working primarily in feature film and documentary, and currently collaborating with Avanpost Media. His practice focuses on building immersive sonic worlds, where sound becomes an essential element of narrative expression. He has contributed to Romanian and international productions such as “Quo Vadis, Aida?” (2020), “Anhell69” (2022), “God Will Not Help” (2025), and “Milk Teeth” (2025), as well as other auteur cinema and documentary projects.
awards and festivals
Festival dei Popoli 2025 Moldox International Documentary Film Festival for Social Change 2025
After fleeing his home as a boy for freedom in the West, Afghan-Dutch filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi returns years later to confront his father, an imam with a violent past. In a journey through Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, ”Paikar” explores the invisible inheritance of war and silence that shapes generations, and invites us to rediscover the tenderness that endures within even the most hardened souls.
* Recommended for ages 15 and over.
Screenplay Dawood Hilmandi, în colaborare cu / in collaboration with Mohammad Reza Farzad
Cinematography Ton Peters, NSC, Dawood Hilmandi, Luca Bono, Waqef Hoseini, Aziz Azizyar, Olympia Mytilinaiou, Sam Soleymani, Miqdad Mirzad, Jawed Noori, Ahmad Ebrahimi, Ali Mardani, Narges Amini, Sadjad Heidari
Three Deaf couples share their remarkable love stories through Irish Sign Language: a decades-long forbidden romance across a religious divide, an LGBTQIA+ couple navigating parenthood with Deaf and hearing daughters, and a Deaf boxer and his hearing partner facing a life-altering choice. This intimate film is a cinematic celebration of resilience, connection, and enduring love.
* Recommended for ages 12 and over.
Cinematography Michael O’Donovan
Editing Paul Mullen
Music Stephen Shannon
Producers Anne Heffernan, Seán Herlihy
Production Curious North Productions
AUDIO: Irish Sign Language, British Sign Language, English
SUBTITLE: Romanian
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului
10:00 AM
96'
Screening accessibilized for various hearing abilities, with descriptive subtitles in Romanian and embedded interpretation in Romanian Sign Language, followed by a discussion between the groups of students and teachers present
Alessia initiates a discussion with her father in an attempt to discover the moment when the separation between them occurred, but along the way, everything becomes uncertain, memories mix and intersect, and no one seems to have an exact answer.
With Alessia Borangic, Cătălin Borangic
Cinematography Cătălin Borangic
Editing Elena-Teodora Ion
Sound Elena-Teodora Ion
Producer Alessia Borangic
Production Universitatea Națională de Artă Teatrală și Cinematografică „I.L. Caragiale”
AUDIO: Romanian
SUBTITLE: English
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului
2:00 PM
23'
Short films for high school students, followed by an educational dialogue moderated by Robert Ștefana and curators Despina Elena Bordeanu and Carla Pantilie + Q&A with director Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic (b. 2004, Bucharest, Romania) studies film directing at the National University of Theatre and Film "I. L. Caragiale" in Bucharest. Her shorts were showcased in festivals such as “CineMAiubit”, "Nopțile Scurtmetrajului Studențesc", "SoMe Festival", and "Super Festival", as well as in galleries such as Jecza and Himera and on online platforms – Labocine.
awards and festivals
CineMAiubit International Student Film Festival 2025
Pol is 21 and lives with his grandmother. He dreams of living in Miami and generating €10k a month. He attends personal development events, follows online coaches and invests in cryptocurrencies. Pol doesn't know when he'll achieve his goal of becoming the best version of himself. The only thing he knows is that one day, he'll get there.
AUDIO: Spanish, Catalan
SUBTITLE: Romanian, English
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului
2:00 PM
32'
Short films for high school students, followed by an educational dialogue moderated by Robert Ștefana and curators Despina Elena Bordeanu and Carla Pantilie + Q&A with director Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic
Alessia Borangic (b. 2004, Bucharest, Romania) studies film directing at the National University of Theatre and Film "I. L. Caragiale" in Bucharest. Her shorts were showcased in festivals such as “CineMAiubit”, "Nopțile Scurtmetrajului Studențesc", "SoMe Festival", and "Super Festival", as well as in galleries such as Jecza and Himera and on online platforms – Labocine.
awards and festivals
Quinzaine des cinéastes – Cannes Film Festival 2025 Sarajevo Film Festival 2025 Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci) 2025 Festival du Nouveau Cinéma 2025 Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival 2025 Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen 2026 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2025 DokuFest International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025 FIPADOC International Documentary Film Festival 2026 Kasseler Dokfest 2025
Urgent, provocative, and unexpectedly funny, “Steal This Story, Please!” follows iconic independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman – from the wisecracking granddaughter of an Orthodox rabbi to the frontlines of global conflicts and her daily news show Democracy Now!. A call to action and a celebration of resistance, the film asks: what happens to democracy when the press surrenders to power?
With Amy Goodman, Juan González, Nermeen Shaikh, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Jeremy Schahill
Cinematography Cliff Charles, Nausheen Dadabhoy, Julia Dengel, Keith Walker
Editing Mona Davis
Sound Gautam Choudhury, Hayden Jackson, Francisco LaTorre, Eliza Paley
Music Zoë Keating
Producers Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch, Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Production Xceptional Communications, Elsewhere Films
AUDIO: English
SUBTITLE: Romanian
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului
7:00 PM
104'
Followed by an extended dialogue on the freedom of the press, with Răzvan Luțac and Iulia Roșu (Snoop co-founders), Emilia Șercan (PressOne) and Mihai Radu (Recorder)
awards and festivals
Telluride Film Festival 2025 Göteborg Film Festival 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival 2026 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2025 DOC NYC 2025 Movies that Matter Film Festival 2026
A film about work and what we want from it. Three former Uber drivers and three actors reenact and reflect on a failed negotiation with Uber representatives. Outlines of a collective experience become visible, as work puts us into often conflicting positions, forcing us to mistreat each other. Against this, the film shows how we can fracture the screen of compassion and pity and enact solidarity in its place.
Screenplay Lisette Olsthoorn
With Mirsad Bektašević, Abderrahman Boukhizzou, Rowdy van Dorst, Michiel Nooter, Guido Pollemans, Anneke Sluiters, Peter van Limbeek, Mark MacGann
Cinematography Aafke Beernink, Sjuul Joosen, Sol Archer, Anna Theunissen, Lisette Olsthoorn
Sound Jaap Sijben, Sol Archer, Lisette Olsthoorn, Andreas Hildebrandt
Music Cecilia Öhrwall
Producer Lisette Olsthoorn
Co-producers Daan Milius, Tim Rutten
Production working people
Co-production Video Power
AUDIO: English, Dutch
SUBTITLE: Romanian, English
25
April,
Saturday
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului
3:30 PM
59'
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinemateca Eforie
6:00 PM
59'
Followed by Q&A with director Lisette Olsthoorn
Lisette Olsthoorn
Lisette Olsthoorn
Lisette Olsthoorn is a Dutch based filmmaker whose work evolves around closely observing and occasionally staging interactions between people, revealing layers of common experiences and political tensions. For her cinematic research into precarious labour she made work about museum attendants (“Fantasies on how to Strike”, 2019), microworkers (“Ghost Workers”, 2024) and Uber drivers (“In This Together”, 2025). From 2026 she conducts PhD research on collaborative film practices – Cinematic explorations at work (LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven, Belgium).
When three American doctors – Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian – enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth. The story follows them from a Gazan hospital under siege, to the halls of Congress, fighting to keep a promise to their Palestinian colleagues and patients, to continue the struggle where it matters most: the United States.
* Recommended for ages 15 and over; depicts graphic scenes of war.
Cinematography Arthur Nazaryan, Poh Si Teng, Ramzy Haddad, Ibrahim Al Otla, Chris Renteria
Editing Christopher White, Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Sound Kristian Eidnes Andersen, Jacob Langkjær Davidsen, Patrick Svaneberg Vejen, Shuling Yong, Spencer Smith
Music Suad Bushnaq, Suvo Sur
Producers Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad
Production Tiny Boxer Films
AUDIO: English, Arabic, Hebrew
SUBTITLE: Romanian, English
28
April,
Tuesday
Cinemateca Eforie
8:30 PM
93'
awards and festivals
U.S. Documentary Competition – Sundance Film Festival 2026 Human:Rights Competition – CPH:DOX 2026 South by Southwest (SXSW) 2026 Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival 2026 Visions du Réel 2026 Movies that Matter Film Festival 2026
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