ASTRA FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS 2022

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

BEST DOCUMENTARY

THE PAWNSHOP,
directed by Łukasz Kowalski

Łukasz Kowalski • Poland • 2022 

For presenting in an interesting and humorous way the endeavors of the owner and employees of an improbable pawnshop business in search to strike a blow, in a disenfranchised community where the only valuables are personal histories of despair. Through its intelligent directing, attention and understanding of characters, „The Pawnshop” turns the story into a topic of global relevance about life and aspirations in between failure, survival and the promised capitalist success.

HONORABLE MENTION

FLYING SHEEP

Alexandra Gulea • Germany, Romania • 2022 

For a daring cinematic exploration and the exquisite visual approach, the special mention goes to undeniably interesting work “Flying Sheep”

DOCSCHOOL

BEST DIRECTOR 

FAMILY LOVE - MY GRANDPA, NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND ME, directed by Eric Esser 

Eric Esser • Germany • 2022 

For an essay film that bravely explores an uncomfortable personal history and the path to uncovering it with both vulnerability and sincerity, as well as with great intellectual and narrative skill, the award for best director of the Astra DocSchool competition goes to "Family Love", by Eric Esser.

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

A PLACE IN THIS WORLD,
directed by Emilie Beyssac Cywinska

Emilie Beyssac Cywinska • France • 2021

Our main prize goes to a tender, warm family portrait that unfolds with incredible ease, naturalness, and affection, subtly revealing the larger historical forces that are at play within the smaller scale of day-to-day life. The award for best film of the Astra DocSchool competition goes to "A Place in This World", by Emilie Beyssac Cywinska.

HONORABLE MENTION

ARSENCIK'S FIRST BIRTHDAY, directed by Valentin-Rareș Fogoroș

Valentin-Rareș Fogoroș • Romania

We would like to acknowledge a timely, courageous film that puts the "document" in "documentary" - a testimony of a tumultuous historic moment, painted both with urgency and immanence, as well as great empathy, care, and involvement. The jury's special mention goes to Arsencik's First Birthday, by Valentin-Rareș Fogoroș.

ROMANIA

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

THE CHALICE. ABOUT SONS AND DAUGHTERS,
Cătălina Tesăr and Dana Bunescu

Dana Bunescu, Cătălina Tesar • Romania • 2022

- For its stylistic virtuosity, the scope of its research, and the depth of its anthropological effort

- For building a bridge of understanding between cultures, opening toward a world that often remains hidden behind commonplaces
- For its ability to create a dramatic and emotional story about the family and the condition of women
- For exploring the values of a culture caught between modernity and tradition

BEST DIRECTION 

EAGLES FROM ȚAGA,
directed by Adina Popescu and Iulian Ghervas

Iulian Manuel Ghervas, Adina Popescu • Romania, Slovak Republic • 2022

- For its stylistic rigor and the memorability of its protagonist

- For its exploration of marginal typologies with compassion, attention, and humor
- For showing how perseverance can turn failure into success
- For its ability to convince viewers that tenaciousness can draw a straight line on any surface

HONORABLE MENTION

WAVES ON DRY SOIL, directed by Raluca David

Raluca David • Romania • 2021

- For its artistic ability to create complex situations and emotions with simple means

- For the subtlety of its storytelling
- For the originality of its subject, character, and presentation of the expat condition
- For proposing evocative visual contrasts between worlds and lifestyles

NEW VOICES IN DOCUMENTARY CINEMA

BEST DOCUMENTARY 

TOO CLOSE,
directed by Botond Püsök

Botond Püsök • Romania • 2022

The selection of films in the New Voices Competition showed us directors trying with great honesty and compassion to picture the gap between human expectations and what we all end up getting.

But a choice had to be made.
For a film that shows a heroine who struggles to hold her family together in a life nearly crushed by a stigma that she most cruelly cannot avoid internalising; for a film that uses the simplest cinematic devices to bring to the screen a chilling story of survival, we award Too Close the prize for New Voices.