Tickets for the 18th edition of the One World Romania International Documentary & Human Rights Film Festival are on sale starting today, March 21, via Eventbook.ro. More than 50 documentary films, including seven Romanian features, that aim to bridge divides through cinema will be screened between April 4-13 at the Peasant Museum Cinema, Elvire Popesco Cinema and Union Cinema in Bucharest.
Also unveiled today were the four posters promoting this year’s edition. Starring Maia and Cabiria Morgenstern, Paula Dunker, Mihai Mihalcea, and Alina Șerban, the festival’s visual identity continues the idea from the presale campaign, that we all live in our own bubbles. The five artists, together with Eugen and Luca Istodor, Gianina Cărbunariu, Carmen Coțofană, and the OWR18 team, are also trying to make themselves heard in the official festival trailer.
The film “Paradise” (dir. Ana Rieper), about the legacy of the colonial condition present in modern day Brazil, will open the festival on Friday, April 4, from 19:00 at the Peasant Museum Cinema. Built from archival material and using a musical narrative, the documentary proposes a restless journey through relationships forged by the ownership of land and people.
Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio comes back to life in the provocative “Fiume o morte!” (dir. Igor Bezinović), which won the top prize at the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam and will be screened at the Closing Gala of One World Romania on Saturday, April 12. The film finds the residents of the Croatian city retelling the bizarre story about the 16-month occupation of their city at the turn of the last century.
Having world premiered at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), “Bright Future” (dir. Andra MacMasters) tackles the hottest summer of the Cold War, that of July 1989, when thousands of young people from all over the world gathered in the North Korean capital for a huge student festival advocating for peace, friendship, and anti-imperialism. On April 6, the documentary will have a special screening as part of the Romanian Cultural Institute’s project “Let’s Talk About... Film”, from 15:00 at the Peasant Museum Cinema.
A true story of love and acceptance, “Forbidden” (dir. Anelise Sălan) documents the complicated story of a gay woman from Romania and her struggle for legal recognition of same-sex marriages. Next to her lover, she sues the state in a historic case at the European Court of Human Rights, but the emotional battle and its consequences put the couple to the test.
What begins as a simple recording of some locals’ struggle to expose Romania’s timber mafia gradually turns into a direct confrontation with absurd and violent consequences in the international premiere of “Tooth and Nail” (dir. Mihai Gavril Dragolea and Radu Mocanu). Through a personal approach and direct engagement with the subject, the film captures the price paid by those who try to defend nature in a hostile system.
Also screened for the first time at OWR18, in the Youth Days program, “CALIU: Nothing Else, What Else Can I Do?” (dir. Simona Constantin) centers on the “king of the violin” Gheorghe Anghel, known as Caliu, who, though unable to accept that his best days are behind him, starts to reinvent himself.
A first at One World Romania, the “OWR Friends” section will showcase several films developed at the festival, or new works from filmmakers who took part in the OWR industry programs over the years. Selected at the Toronto International Film Festival, “TATA” (dir. Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc) is a powerful and moving story about a daughter’s struggle to break the cycle of violence in her family and heal the wounds of the past, both for herself and future generations, and for the one who hurt her.
“An Almost Perfect Family”, the second documentary feature by cinematographer Tudor Platon, is even more personal than his debut “House of Dolls”: as his parents are separating after 30 years of marriage, he falls in love and starts his own family. “Leo Records: Strictly for Our Friends” (dir. Ioana Grigore) is an energetic film about the record label that has become a symbol of musical resistance against authoritarian regimes and its founder Leo Feigin, a sympathetic octogenarian and jazz aficionado.
After the festival concludes in Bucharest, a selection of the films will also be available to stream online, from anywhere in Romania, between April 14-30.
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ORGANISER: One World Romania Association
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS: The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN), UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V. – Rule of Law Programme Southeast Europe, Romanian Cultural Institute, Embassy of France in Romania, French Institute in Bucharest, Czech Centre Bucharest, Goethe-Institut Bucharest, Romanian Filmmakers’ Union, DACIN-SARA, National Council for Combating Discrimination, Polish Institute Bucharest, Embassy of Switzerland in Romania, Swiss Sponsors’ Fund, Embassy of the Lebanese Republic in Romania, Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Bucharest, Embassy of Ireland in Romania, Wallonie Bruxelles International, Italian Cultural Institute Bucharest, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Romania, Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Romania, Swedish Embassy in Romania, Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center Bucharest, British Council Bucharest, CEREFREA Villa Noël, The National Center for Dance Bucharest, EUNIC Romania, Balkan Documentary Center, KineDok, microFILM, Mediawise Society, MaiMultVerde Association
CORPORATE PARTNERS: Kaufland Romania, Valvis Group, Groupama, BMW Romania, BlackCab, La Fântâna, Kafune
PARTNER VENUES: The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant – Peasant Museum Cinema, French Institute in Bucharest – Elvire Popesco Cinema, National Film Archive – Union Cinema, Czech Centre Bucharest, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V. – Rule of Law Programme Southeast Europe, Random House, Echoes Haus, Lokal
YOUTH DAYS PARTNERS: Supported by Kaufland Romania
The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Peasant Museum Cinema, UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency, Polish Institute Bucharest, EFOR - Expert Forum, Funky Citizens, Arhiva de imagine MȚR, Limite de Cadru, Teach for Romania, Greenpeace CEE Romania, ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet), Code for Romania, Accept Association, MaiMultVerde Association, Copii Pentru Viitor Association, “I.L. Caragiale” National University of Theatre and Film
TICKETS THROUGH: Eventbook.ro
MONITORING PARTNER: mediaTRUST Romania
MEDIA PARTNERS: RFI România, Radio România Cultural, Scena9, IQads, Revista Matca, Revista ARTA, Revista FILM, Zile și Nopți, Școala9, Mindcraft Stories, Cărturești, Films in Frame, Film Menu, LiterNet, Cinepub, Like5.ro, Cinefilia, The Institute, Happ.ro
THE FESTIVAL WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2008 BY: Czech Centre Bucharest
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project's results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.
Established in 2009, the One World Romania Association organizes the only documentary film and human rights festival in the country, One World Romania, which takes place annually in Bucharest. The association works with documentary film as a vehicle for social and political dialogue, as a window to the world and an environment that prompts reflection. Through its activities, the association supports the development of the demand for documentaries in Romania, leading in recent years to an increased interest in this genre, both among the general public and within educational programs.
