Unfinished Festival: A war journalist and a human connections expert discuss silence in Bucharest

Anelise Borges, a war journalist believed to have had one of the most significant rises in international media, and Lakshmi Rengarajan, an expert in human connections, will be present at the Unfinished Festival in Bucharest in September. They will discuss silence, this year's theme, from the perspective of their fields of activity.

The eighth edition of the multidisciplinary festival Unfinished takes place from September 22 to 24 at the House of Ideas (Casa Universitarilor), as well as in its historical garden and greenhouses.

Anelise Borges has reported from over 30 countries, covering topics such as migration issues, dictatorships worldwide, current conflicts and wars, and Europe's multiple identity crises. One of her most well-known works is 10 Days at Sea - The True Story of the Aquarius Ship, presenting the conflict between the humanitarian ship Aquarius' crew and Italian authorities, with Anelise being the sole journalist on board. The material turned into a documentary for which she received the 2018 Bronze Lovie Award.

Currently, Anelise is a correspondent for EuronewsNBC and has reported from Libya, Syria, Iran, as well as Venezuela and Ukraine. In Bucharest, she will approach silence in a direct manner, talking about the inadequacy of words in the face of harsh reality.

For 15 years, Lakshmi Rengarajan has been reinventing how people connect beyond dating apps. She was recruited by Match.com to lead the Event Design department and later became the first Director of Workplace Connection at WeWork. She delved into the art of setting people up at Paired by The People and co-hosted the award-winning Vox Media podcast series Land of the Giants, focusing on the history of the dating industry.

At present, Lakshmi is reimagining what it means to find your partner later in life through her new project, The Later Dater Today. She will come to Unfinished Festival to talk about silence more metaphorically, reimagining how we date later in life.

Dozens of other guests from all around the world will transform Bucharest into a lab of ideas and experiments revolving around Silence: Topaz Adizes (MX), a writer, director, and experience design architect; Rafaela Sahyoun (BR), a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher; Daniel Jones (US), editor of the Modern Love column in The New York Times; Roni Levit (IL), a visual artist specialized in information design; Joao Paulo Barbosa (BR), photographer, historian, and author; Alexe Popescu (RO), graphic designer and product designer; Jean-Kenta Gauthier (FR), gallery owner and art critic; and many others.

Attendance at the festival is based on the event's pay-with-your-time model. The only way to access the Unfinished community is by filling out an application, and only 3141 participants will be accepted for this edition.