American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest to screen selection from peer event in Kyiv

The American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest will screen part of the selection of the American Independent Film Festival Kyiv (AIFF Kyiv), which had to cancel its edition this year because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Bucharest event will screen Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon and a series of Ukrainian documentaries grouped under the headline AIFF Kyiv Indie Lab. The team of AIFF Kyiv will introduce the films and take part in an online discussion with the Bucharest public.

Indie Lab is a film lab for young Ukrainian artists working on their first or second documentary film project. Ten documentary shorts are created every year, with support from directors in Ukraine and United States. As part of the program, the Bucharest public can see the documentaries Fomo, Birthmark, In the Fields, Diary 1937, The Wonderful Years, and Save Me Doctor.

Ukrainian audiences will have free access to the two screenings, and the films will be screened with Ukrainian subtitles, the Bucharest event announced.

The festival will also screen Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary Maidan, about the Euromaidan movement of 2013 and 2014 in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The screening will be followed by a discussion on the current situation in Ukraine, moderated by Sorin Ioniță of the think tank Expert Forum.

AIFF Bucharest will also screen Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral; Diego Ongaro’s Down with the King, the winner of the Special Prize of the Deauville Festival; Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou, Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man, and Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee.

Tickets for the American Independent Film Festival in Bucharest have gone on sale today, April 5, at Eventbook.ro.

AIFF Bucharest will support this year Ukrainian families who either continue to live in war-torn settlements or have taken refuge in Romania. The support will be implemented in partnership with associations represented by Sorin Ioniță and Sara Turetta.

Sorin Ioniță is the president of the think-tank Expert Forum Association and decided to get involved in helping the inhabitants of the Chernivtsi area, organizing the transport of aid collected through voluntary contributions. Sara Turetta is a social activist with over 20 years of experience in Romania helping children and animals.