Toma Peiu will present Civilians in the International Short Film competition of the 2017 edition of the Astra Film Festival, running from October 16-22nd in Sibiu, Romania. Screenings followed by Q&As are scheduled for Wednesday, October 18th and Friday, October 22nd, at Astrafilm Cinema.
According to the festival program: "In static shots, Civilians compiles moments of everyday life, turning into an important documentation of New York as it is today, of “the other New York”, which the mainstream cinema rarely shows. At the same time, the film states that neither life nor cinema are made solely of high-pitched moments." The film is produced by Root Films, in association with The School of Media Studies at The New School. Luiza Parvu is the editor, co-cinematographer, sound mixer and co-producer of the film. Shan Jin and Toma Peiu are also credited for Cinematography. Prof. Deanna Kamiel provided critical creative consulting.
Astra Film Festival is a premier venue for documentary film and visual anthropology. Every year, curators invite a thoroughly selected group of features and shorts and an elite of worldwide makers and scholars in anthropological filmmaking, sensory ethnography and visual culture in a friendly, intimate setting in Central Europe. The festival fosters conversations around documentary, the ethics of filmmaking, sensorial approaches to ethnography, contemporary media culture and critical approaches to nonfiction. In the past, the festival highlighted the works of filmmakers such as Margaret Mead, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Frederick Wiseman or Robert Gardner. This year’s edition welcomes the audience with a collection of over 130 films, conversations with film industry experts, a regional film market, concerts, VR and full-dome events.
Toma’s participation at the Astra Film Festival is supported by grants from The School of Media Studies at The New School and the College of Media, Communication and Information at CU Boulder.
