TEHRAN – Romanian filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc’s acclaimed documentary “Acasa, My Home” will be reviewed in the World’s Best section of the 14th edition of the Cinéma Vérité festival.

The World’s Best of the major Iranian documentary festival will feature a selection of documentaries acclaimed at 2020 international events across the world.

“Acasa, My Home” is about the Enache family, nine kids and their parents, who has been living for two decades in a shack in the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta: an abandoned water reservoir, one of the largest urban natural preserves in the world, with lakes and hundreds of species of animals and rare plants. 

When the authorities decide to reclaim this rare urban ecosystem, the Enache family is evicted and told to resettle in the city — a reality they know nothing about. Kids that used to spend their days in nature have to learn about city life, go to school instead of swimming in the lake, and swap their fishing rods for mobile phones. Their identity has been questioned and transformed, along with their sense of freedom and family ties.

The film has been screened in numerous international events and won some awards.

The Sundance Film Festival honored the film with the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography.

The documentary also was selected as best film in the Regional Competition of the 16th International Documentary Film Festival ZagrebDox by winning the Big Stamp of the Croatian event.

The Young Jury of the festival also awarded its Small Stamp to “Acasa, My Home”, which is a co-production of Romania, Finland and Germany.

The documentary is Ciorniciuc’s debut made in 2019. He co-founded the first independent media organization in Romania, Casa Jurnalistului. He works as a long-form writer and undercover investigative reporter, focusing on human rights, animal welfare and environmental issues across the globe. His work has been published on Channel 4 News, the Guardian and Al Jazeera, and has received numerous international awards, including from Amnesty International, the Royal Television Society and the Wincott Foundation.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s Cinéma Vérité will be held entirely online from December 8 to 15.

In addition, 25 films on COVID-19 by Iranian filmmakers will be competing in the festival as the organizers intend to attract attention to this disastrous disease by this special category.

The four top works selected in this category will be honored at the closing ceremony, while the international section of the festival is non-competitive this year.

The Documentary and Experimental Film Center is the main organizer of the event.

Photo: A poster for Romanian filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc’s documentary “Acasa, My Home”.

MMS/YAW