For five days, the city of Cahul became the country’s cinematic center, hosting the sixth issue of the International Documentary Film Festival Moldox. The Festival premiered some of the most compelling documentaries made in recent years, followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, public discussions on current issues with appropriate guests, documentary filmmaking workshops and masterclasses held by international experts, and a documentary photography exhibition.
“We are proud to have succeeded once again in bringing to Cahul world-class documentaries with social impact. In addition to familiarizing us with the current global problems present in our lives, documentaries also open new horizons and possible solutions to solve them. I consider that such events trigger change for the better, and we see this especially at the local level in Cahul. And last but not least, contribute to the professional training of future filmmakers through the documentary film workshops organized by Moldox Lab”, says Maxim Cîrlan, director of the Moldox International Documentary Film Festival.
Under the patronage of the Festival, Moldox Lab and the National Centre of Cinematography of the Republic of Moldova has organized the Round Table with the subject “New opportunities for the film industry in Moldova”. The event was a meeting place for representatives of institutions that propose policies in the field and filmmakers from local and international industries. Within the meeting, the filmmakers discussed aspects related to the changes initiated for the financing regulation and attracting foreign investment, as well as creating a favorable environment for international film co-productions here in Moldova. In this context, the participants mentioned the importance of exchanging experience with other countries on the legal framework while stressing the need to adopt global practices to the local context to reflect reality and create tangible opportunities for the film sector in our country.
The Pitch@Moldox took place on the Festival’s closing day, during which the participant at Inspiration Workshop pitched the film projects that they worked on with the workshop tutors – Hjalmar Palmgren, Melody Gilbert, Phil Jandaly, and Angela Tucker. During the two training modules, participants went through all the stages of project development and made a trailer of the documentary in progress. The Pitch@Moldox was judged by a jury of international experts from the documentary film industry, who offered young filmmakers awards to develop their projects.
List of winners and prizes:
Vadim Tristan Belocur with the project “Republic of Freedom”
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (TDF) – award presents a season ticket to the 2022 edition and access to all other events – Agora Market and Docs.
Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) – award a one-year membership and four personalized mentoring sessions.
Sofia Agapi with the project “Operation Key”
DOCUDAYS UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Award – access to the Festival and accommodation for the 2022 edition.
Balkan Documentary Centre (BDC) Award – an observer place involving two training modules in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Prizren, Kosovo.
Kristina Jacot with the project “Letters from the Periphery”
B2B DOC Award – a filmmaking workshop.
Pavel Braila with the project “Odyssey MD2020”
B2B DOC Award for participation in a film idea development training.
Lucia Tăut with the project “Vadim and His Princess”
Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) Award – a one-year membership and four personalized mentoring sessions.
Elena Culic
Special award from Angela Tucker, member of the American Academy – a mentoring session.
Roman Gațcan
One World Romania (OWR) Festival Award – participation as an observer in Civil Society Pitch 2022.
About the amplitude of the Moldox Lab workshops during this edition of Moldox Festival, tells us Natalia Andronachi, Head of Industry Moldox Lab. In addition to the increase in the number of participants eager to become professionals in the film industry, there has also been an increase in international guests’ number. “Through the workshops, we managed to bring our local stories, but with universal value, to the attention of world-renowned producers, including two members of the American Film Academy. This denotes, first of all, a qualitative leap we made for the local film industry and we believe it is a great achievement of this year’s edition,” added Natalia Andronachi.
At the same time, the Festival culminated with the screening of short films made in the workshops Moldox Lab 2021 (InterAction – 4 films and Exploration – 3 films) on current issues in Cahul, but also for the whole country. Shorts were presented to an audience of people from Cahul, local authorities, national and international guests. The shorts focused on the condition of roads, lack of public toilets, the strength and love of life of a young man with special needs and his family, the situation and way of life of the older people, climate change, and others.
During the seven days of workshops, Moldox Lab participants also took part in masterclasses with special guests of the Festival, such as: the masterclass with Mihai Grecea, Colectiv survivor and artistic consultant of the Colectiv documentary; the masterclass on writing and pitching film projects with Anastasia Kirillova, Head of Talent Development B2B DOC; the masterclass on digital distribution and streaming services with Vincent Lucassen, film producer and distributor for the “Under the Milky Way” platform, as well as masterclasses focusing on the importance of documentary filmmakers to the industry with Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, American Film Academy member, producer, director from Romania and Angela Tucker, American Film Academy member, Peabody, and Emmy nominated director and producer.
Organized by the Public Association “Moldox,” in partnership with “Svenska Filmstudion” with the financial support of the Swedish Institute, Cahul City Hall, US Embassy, Austrian Cultural Forum, AKZENTE German Cultural Center and Goethe Institute, German Embassy, Dutch Embassy, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Swiss Cooperation Fund, National Center of Cinematography, Romanian Cultural Institute and Startup City Cahul.
Media partners of the event: TVR Moldova, Unimedia news portal, Diez, Moldova.org, Ziua de Azi, Youth.md, Gazeta de Sud, Locals, Regional and Newsmaker.