The outcomes of postcommunist transition, the dictatorial systems, tragedies, traumas among ethnic communities, interactions between Eastern and Western citizens, plagues of the war; all these are topics which directors choose to develop in their author films about the Central and Eastern area of Europe.
    For the first time in Romania – Maidan (director: Sergei Loznitsa), screened at Cannes 2014, presents the cruel facts of the protests in Kiev during the winter of 2013-2014 against the former political domination. The fixed camera leaves events speak for themselves. The director is to be present at the screening.
    How can films have repercussions on reality? Kismet (director: Nina Maria Paschalidou) highlights the surprising impact of Turkish soap operas on the Arabic world as well as on the Balkans. Blood (director: Alina Rudnitskaya) X-rays the rural life in Russia, in a place where blood donations mean, for some of the dwellers, the only income. Domino Effect (director: Piotr Rosolowski and Elwira Niewiera) take us to the other shore on the Black Sea, in Abhazia, where the relationship between a minister and an artist of Russian origin reflect the local social and political tensions.
    Judgement in Hungary (director: Eszter Hajdu – in person at AFF) shows the controversial trial of four of the members of an extra right organisation which between 2008 and 2009 has killed several Roma people of Hungary. PMR (director: Meelis Muhu) tracks the Transnistrian presidential elections in 2011 and the electoral pursuits of Igor Smirnov, who had been the president of the region for two decades.
    Stream of Love (director: Agnes Sos) explores the intimate relationships between an octogenarian man and the women in a Hungarian village in Transilvania. The director will attend the screening. The Undertaker (director: Dragan Nikolic – present at AFF) is the very personal portrait of a Serbian funeral furnisher entrepreneur in charge of the repatriation of Serbian people who died abroad or of tourists having passed away on Serbian land. Yugoslavia, how ideology moved our collective body (director: Marta Popidova) focuses the collective movements in communist Yugoslavia, organised either by the state, either by its opponents.
    Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service (director: Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva) portray a Bulgarian animation director and his relationship with the former secret service. The documentary proved to be extremely controversial, being eliminated without further explanations from the list of the Bulgarian Film Academy Prizes, on which it had figured as a nominee for the best director and the best documentary. Mina Mileva is to be present at AFF.
    `Through its very becoming, Central and Eastern Europe has been and still is a different facet of Europe. There are to be found stories and subjects which apart from their substance, can be read and interpreted as well as the statement of a way of being. Almost all the subjects of these documentaries are rooted in the specific context of a country, but nevertheless, those things could have happened in any other country. The films in the Central and Eastern Europe are selected considering their subject as well as their cinematographic performance`, declared Dumitru Budrala, founding director of Astra Film Festival.

Astra Film Festival 2014, The International Cinema Festival in Sibiu is organised by Astra Film – CNM Astra and Astra Film Foundation.
With support from the County Council of Sibiu, the National Centre of Cinematography, the Ministry of Culture, the European Union through the programme Creative Europe – Media.
Partners: : Institutul Cultural Român, Institutul Francez, Centrul Ceh, Fundația pentru Parteneriat, Consulatul Republicii Federale Germania
Action co-financed by Local Council of Sibiu through the Mairy of Sibiu.
Media partners: HBO, TV5 Monde, Digi24, HotNews, Revista 22, Dilema Veche, Cinemagia, Decât O Revistă, Cațavencii, CinEuropa, Film New Europe, LiterNet, CinemaRX, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Actualități, Radio Cluj, Radio Antena Sibiului, Radio Târgu Mureș, RFI România, Art Act Magazine, Port.ro, The ONE, CineFan, TOTB.ro, Sub 25, Vice, Filmtett, Ginger Group, Film Reporter, AaRC.ro, Magic FM, Zile și Nopți, Tribuna, Turnul Sfatului, Sibiu 100%, Eveniment TV