For the first time, Alexan­der Nanau, DFFB alum­nus and suc­cess­ful doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er, has sub­mit­ted a doc­u­men­tary film on behalf of his home­land Roma­nia to com­pete for the Oscar for Best Inter­na­tion­al Film.

In his project COLLECTIVE (direc­tor: Alexan­der Nanau, screen­writer: Alexan­der Nanau and Antoane­ta Opris, cin­e­matog­ra­ph­er: Alexan­der Nanau, pro­duc­er: Han­ka Kastelico­va, Bernard Michaux, Alexan­der Nanau, Bian­ca Oana), which had its world pre­miere at the Venice Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val in 2019, he fol­lows a group of inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists from the Roman­ian news­pa­per “Gaze­ta Spor­turilor” as they uncov­er a web of cor­rup­tion in the health­care sec­tor across the board.

In 2020, the doc­u­men­tary, co-pro­duced with MDR, Luxembourg’s Sam­sa Film, and HBO Europe, was award­ed the Euro­pean Film Award for Best Doc­u­men­tary.  His last film project, LUMEA VAZUTA DE ION B (THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ION B), is the recip­i­ent of an Emmy.

On Feb­ru­ary 9, the pre­s­e­lec­tion of the Oscars—the short­list of 10 films—for the Best Inter­na­tion­al Film will be announced. We’re keep­ing our fin­gers crossed for you, dear Alexan­der!

And all those who are now curi­ous about the doc­u­men­tary can watch it through the ARD-Mediathek.

Pho­to Copy­right: Dog­woof Ltd.