The 2022 edition is completed by a series of interactive and interdisciplinary side events which draw parallels between the environment and the personal sphere by promoting the development of a global consciousness and identity meant to include not only the individual, but the ecosystem which supports them as well. 

Since one of the most urgent ecological problems is the extinction of fertile soil, the events will focus mainly on soil regeneration and man’s relationship with soil.

We thus want to allocate a special space to issues concerning fertile soils and forest biodiversity through two debates which are relevant to both public environmental policies and the health of the soil, of the individual, as well as of the planet. We will discuss national and European legislative aspects starting from the connection between soil, climate, and agriculture in the debate “Sustainable soil: resources, solutions, legislation,” where some of the guests will be representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Waters, and Forests and of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In the debate “Forests, biodiversity and forest soils” we will see how forest conservation and planting can contribute to biodiversity and healthy soil, and we will receive concrete advice concerning the ways in which we can all contribute to creating and maintaining this balance.

We will continue with “Climate anxiety pill,” where we will ask ourselves if schools are sufficiently prepared to deal with the subject of climate change, if we as citizens are prepared, and how sustainable our actions are. Moreover, the phenomenon called desertification is present in Romania as well – we will therefore discuss “Hydrobiographies: The Sadova - Corabia irrigation system,” a system which has returned to public attention in the last decade haunted by severe drought, fueling both the hope and the uncertainty that it may still have a future. We then connect with “Energy communities. How green energy can change the world,” where we will learn about the advantages of becoming a prosumer, as well as the ways in which energy community can bring us closer to the world we want to live in.

The debates are followed by practical events consisting in workshops, as well as yoga sessions. We will start with a collage workshop, we will talk about nutrition and make raw sweets, we will reconnect to the earth through a pottery workshop, and discuss regenerative agriculture and the ways it can be supported. During this exploratory process we will also approach conscious consumption in both our individual lives and in the community, the ways in which we can improve our relationship with the environment, as well as compost planting techniques. Furthermore, we will dedicate an entire day to “green” events at the Văcărești Natural Park, where we will learn to recalibrate our bodies and our senses in relation to nature: first through documentary photography, then through silent steps turning into dance, and ending with a guided tour and Dusk, sunset in the Văcărești Natural Park, a “screening” about a possible future.

We engage in a close collaboration with artists whose work deals with sustainability and we host a collective video performance with artists from all over the world. The yoga sessions will lead us towards inner balance, meditation, flexibility and the capacity to confront the states of human nature.

In addition to this year’s side events, the festival also features 3 theatre shows which are relevant to the current edition’s theme: 

BAD BLOOD V.2.0. There is something very healing about giving people an object of hate.

With: Mihaela Teleoacă, Alex Mirea, Oana Pușcatu

Written and directed by: Gabriel Sandu

The show “Bad Blood v.2.0” questions the degree of truth and fiction in documentary films and explores what happens on an individual level when complicated stories are presented to the public in a simplified or even manipulative way.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING, by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe

With: Denisa Nicolae 

Directed by: Nicolae Constantin Tănase 

There are brilliant things in this world which make life worth living. A list of all the brilliant things. A reminder that joy can be found in apparently unimportant things, but which can become brilliant. It all depends on one’s perspective. The show is part of the depression and depression destigmatization awareness campaigned launched in 2017 by the VANNER COLLECTIVE and its partners.

CAPTAIN AMAZING, by Alistair McDowall

With: Liviu Romanescu

Directed by: Nicolae Constantin Tănase

Some superheroes only become aware of their superpower after becoming fathers. In his desire to be succeed as a father, Marc, an introvert young man, is compelled towards action and heroic acts through his alter ego, Captain Amazing. But not even superheroes are immune to tragedies and even they find themselves powerless when it comes to saving those they love most. Captain Amazing shows the transformative power of fatherhood, the daily acts of courage, as well as how vulnerability can become a superpower.

The KineDok Romania program organizes two events at OWR#15. One of them is the KineDok debate “Turning libraries into cultural hubs,” which aims to investigate the modalities in which Romanian libraries can be turned into cultural hubs that promote and facilitate the access to documentary film culture. The other event, the KineDok work meeting with the partners in the country discusses alternative creative documentary distribution and prepares the 8th edition of the project.

Before the festival starts, stay tuned to the latest OWR 2022 news