Relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbours - for one thousand years, Romani people are our equals and our contemporaries, although we don’t treat them accordingly. The 13th edition of the One World Romania festival, which starts Friday the 21st of August, sets out to counterbalance the exoticizing and biased representation which is usually applied to Romani communities by organizing a series of events that will allow their members to describe themselves without any filters or intermediaries.

Last year, Romania crossed a critical threshold: the barometer of interethnic relationships announced that the number of Romanians who had freed their mind from the bias against Romani minorities had exceeded that of those who still did not accept them as equals in society. But the pandemic demonstrated that the Romani citizens could easily fall back into the role of usual suspect, with a little help from the mass media. But acknowledging the constant risk of regression should not stop us from enjoying the victory and celebrating the protagonists of the long-lasting campaigns against discrimination: activists, journalists, sociologists, etc. Therefore, we invite you on Friday the 22sd of August, at Verde Stop Arena, at “The Wake for Racism”. There will be merry funeral songs, we will heartily share a koliva, and the drinks will inspire some cultured laments, all to mark the burial of intolerance. With the participation of MC Mircea Toma from ActiveWatch, Ciprian Necula - Romani activist at Platforma Aresel, doctor in sociology and associate teacher at SNSPA, Dragoș Mușat (Tetelu) - journalist, actor and writer of comic sketches - and a number of special guests who will be accompanied by Daniel Mărgean & the Trio Band. The performance will start after the screening of the film „Taikon” and is part of a series of events in which we discuss the history and celebrate the culture of Romani people.

Because of the sanitary crisis we are going through, we were forced to organize a part of the events exclusively online. But this change of plans will not prevent us from communicating, sharing ideas and searching for solutions. The decrease of racist attitudes is not only a victory for minorities, but for the whole of society. Each one of us has the responsibility to reflect on the next steps to be taken in order for this evolution to keep going, and a good start will be the debate entitled “What do we do when we succeed?”, which we will hold on Wednesday, the 26th of August, at 5.00 PM and which you will be able to follow on our Facebook page. Our guests will be Cătălina Olteanu - member of the Directory College of the National Council for Combating Discrimination; Carmen Gheorghe - the president of the E-Romnja Association and the coordonator and editor of the collection of essays entitled “The Romanian Problem - an analysis of Racism in Romania"; Gelu Duminică - the executive director of the foundation Agenția de Dezvoltare Împreună; Ciprian Necula, Romani activist at Platforma Aresel, doctor in sociology and associate teacher at SNSPA; Vasile Dâncu - the president of the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy; and Mălina Voicu - researcher at the Research Instsitute for Quality of Life at the Romanian Academy. The talk will be moderated by Mircea Toma from ActiveWatch.

With your help as well, dear audience, we will reach another one of our goals: that of breaking the silence covering a number of topics and figures which were seen as problematic by official histories. Such a figure is Petre Sirin, documentary filmmaker at the studio “Alexandru Sahia” and who has left us - along with a series of short films on art and history - a fantastic testimony concerning a world few even suspect existed, the world of queer culture under the Communist regime. On Sunday, the 30th of August, at 5.00 PM, join us on our Facebook page, where we will talk with Florin Buhuceanu (human rights activist), Teona Galgoțiu and Bogdan Balla (filmmakers). Together, we will explore gay culture - faced as it was to police repression, which lasted until 2002 - and will discuss ways of preserving this alternative history that risks to disappear together with its protagonists.

This year’s Kinedok debate, which will focus on the change of paradigm in art documentary distribution, will also take place online. The year 2020 has brought about a radical reform in the way films reach their target audience. Massively affected by the global health crisis, the film industry had to come up with quick solutions, many of which without any prior testing. Distributors have been forced to implement new strategies and venture into uncharted territory, especially in the online world. We invite you on Tuesday, the 25th of August, at 5.00 PM, again on our Facebook page, to a discussion with Ivana Formanová from Czech Republic - Project Manager and Coordinator of KineDok, Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) - and Jean-Marie Barbe from France - Producer, Director, Editorial Coordinator of the online video platform for independent documentaries Tënk and Co-founder of the États Généraux du Film Documentaire de Lussas - during which we will try answering to some of the following questions: What impact will these emergency measures have in the long run? What risks and benefits are associated with these and what alternative audience engagement strategies do we have at present? The event will be in English.

Due to a last-minute change, the location Contego - The Coffee Factory will be replaced with the two following locations: Rezidența BRD Scena 9 and Manasia Hub. This will only have a minimal impact on the previously announced program.

Thank you for your understanding!

All events will respect the sanitary norms imposed by the authorities, norms which will be mandatory for the audience as well as for the team members, in order to protect everyone’s health. We can read the norms here.

Please find the complete program of the festival here.

Tickets can be bought on the Eventbook platform.

ORGANIZER:

Asociația One World Romania

MAIN PARTNER:

Programul Statul de Drept Europa de Sud Est al Fundației Konrad Adenauer

MAIN SPONSOR:

Kaufland

WITH THE SUPPORT OF:

Administrația Fondului Cultural Național, Ministerul Culturii, Centrul Național al Cinematografiei, Institutul Cultural Român, UNHCR - Agenția ONU pentru Refugiați, Fundația ERSTE prin Fondul de Solidaritate CEE, Uniunea Cineaștilor din România, DACIN-SARA, Reprezentanța Comisiei Europene în România, Consiliul Național pentru Combaterea Discriminării

SPONSORS:

Bosch, HBO, Aqua Carpatica, Domeniile Sâmburești, Kronenbourg Blanc, Somersby, Samsung

CULTURAL PARTNERS:

Ambasada Franței în România, Institutul Francez din București, Ambasada Statelor Unite ale Americii în România, Forumul Cultural Austriac, Ambasada Elveției în România, Ambasada Regatului Țărilor de Jos în România, Goethe-Institut București, Ambasada Statului Palestina, Centrul Cultural Palestinian „Mahmoud Darwish”, Festivalul Filmului Palestinian, Ambasada Spaniei în România, Ambasada Suediei la București, Institutul Polonez din București, Institutul Italian de Cultură, Delegația Valonia-Bruxelles la București, Centrul Ceh București, Agenția Împreună, Festivalul SUPER, Kinedok, Festivalul Astra, Transilvania Film, Apollo 111, CEREFREA Villa Noel, AVL Systems, Prisma Production Pro

PARTNER LOCATIONS:

Verde Stop Arena, Mercato Kultur, Institutul Francez din București, Cinema Muzeul Țăranului, Institutul Balassi – Institutul Maghiar din București, Rezidența BRD Scena 9, Manasia Hub

TICKETS:

Eventbook

MOBILITY PARTNER:

Autonom

LOGISTIC PARTNER:

DHL

DIGITAL PARTNER:

Canopy

MONITORING PARTNER:

mediaTRUST

MEDIA PARTNERS:

Magic FM, Radio România Cultural, Radio România 3Net ”Florian Pittis”, Radio Europa Liberă, Scena9, DOR, Films in Frame, Cinepub, Cărturești, Observator Cultural, Perspektiva, Humanitas, Film Menu, Cutra, Igloo, Liternet, All About Romanian Cinema, Zile și Nopți, The Institute, Știriong.ro, Verbs Describe Us, Vice Magazine, Munteanu

THE FESTIVAL WAS CREATED IN 2008 BY:

Centrul Ceh București

The content of the project is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.

Project financed by the Ministry of Culture