Manifest Film

What does it mean to “live” after experiencing war? Four Romanian survivors of the Afghanistan conflict share — for the first time — their invisible wounds and path to recovery.

In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years – until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.

Filmed across Italy, Moldova, and Romania, Tata is a raw portrait of a family locked in a relentless struggle against toxic masculinity and the tale of a daughter’s poignant quest to break the cycle for herself, the next generation, and even for the one who hurt her.

In the summer of 1989, the 13th edition of the World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Pyongyang. Thousands of socialist youth from 177 countries celebrated their belief in a better society and international solidarity.

Imaginary Youth follows three teenagers through their final years of high school, before, during, and after the Covid confinement. While pondering about leaving Romania after they finish school, Una – an actress, Habet – a trapper and Stefania – an environmental activist get caught in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis. Personal dramas and dilemmas unfold, as the three try to make sense of growing up and what’s happening around them. Who’s gonna make it?

Two filmmakers follow a businessman turned eco-activist as he exposes Romania's timber mafia. Their journey takes a dramatic turn when, in the middle of a forest, the three are attacked by a group of 12 angry men. The cameras are destroyed, and all footage is lost. Faced with this harsh reality, each of them tries to manage the situation as best they can, confronting their own doubts and limitations.

While helping another woman search for her birth mother, a filmmaker reopens her own family story. In searching for her missing sisters, she unearths a legacy of abuse and exploitation, and begins to ask: can the creative power of self-authorship help her rewrite the scripts she has inherited?

With his old fashioned camera, the videographer Mr. Zagor (75 years) is documenting the last four years of his life, filming his loneliness and sickness. He shares the fears of his neighbours of being evicted from three different locations where he lived in precarious conditions. A poetic statement and an empowering cinematic document, ‘The Death of Joseph Zagor’ gives voice to the disenfranchised people that do not fit with the new dynamic image of big and expensive cities, such as Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

The unseen damage inflicted by war on personal relationships casts its shadow over the homecoming of Serhiy, a veteran haunted by loss. He finds himself increasingly isolated as he battles to reconnect with his wife, Nadiia, and their three sons, Sasha, Artem and Nikita. The film takes an unexpected turn when Serhiy turns the camera on its director. This role reversal creates a space for vulnerable dialogue about love and human relationships as the filmmaker shares her own experience of break-up with another war veteran.