Astra Film Festival 2018 sets new attendance record

The 2018 Sibiu International Festival Astra Film wrapped up Sunday, October 21. The 25^th edition of Astra Film Festival racked up impressive attendance figures, reaffirming its status as the Central & Eastern Europe’s most popular documentary film festival.

Over 70,000 people attended the 2018 Astra Film Festival, up nearly 5 percent from 2017. About 30 percent of those non-fiction film fans came from abroad and other regions of Romania, while the rest came from Sibiu County.

Astra Film Festival received over 70,000 spectators and participants throughout the 7-day event, October 15-21, which meant an increase of 5% in its attendance figures. Over 25,000 tickets were sold to the events lined-up by Astra Film Junior, which celebrated its 10^th edition. Tickets to fulldome projections maxed out in 24 hours, thus all 360-degree screenings presented by AFF 2018 – The Future Is Now took place with the box office closed.

The Festival featured over 400 cinema events and screened a selection of 128 top documentaries, out of which 55 productions from 30 countries participated in the AFF’s five competition sections. Here are the 2018 AFF’s winners of the various awards.

The 26th Sibiu International Festival Astra Film will run October 14 – 20, 2019.

Sibiu International Festival Astra Film was launched in 1993 as a groundbreaking project in the Central and Eastern Europe. Its contribution to establishing a framework for the development of documentary cinema in the whole region, and in Romania in particular, has been consequential. It has constantly attracted industry’s attention to the art of non-fiction film by supporting the development of the genre and opening new horizons for the documentarists. Astra Film Festival 2018 is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and Astra Film Foundation, with the support of the County Council of Sibiu, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, and the Romanian Film Center. The event is cofinanced by Sibiu City Council through the Sibiu City Hall and by the European Union through its Creative Media Program.

Astra Film Festival Sibiu is held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.

Press Contact: Adriana Lomnășan, 0728 174 406, adriana@astrafilm.ro