In the time of post-truth, as media systems around us change, the question of whether reality can truly be depicted arises. This is the case for documentary film as well, which we would usually expect to be investigative and accurate. But for decades, filmmakers have been shaping the emotional narrative and the purportedly objective perspective of documentaries—making them personal, or abstract...

On October 30, 2015, a fire broke out in a club in Bucharest. That evening, a spark from a firework caught the club’s plastic soundproofing insulation, setting off a rapidly-spreading fire that devoured the highly-flammable material in less than 2.5 minutes. Of the 400 people who were trapped in the club that night without access to emergency exits, 27 people died on the scene, and  38...

It’s a strange time we live in. As the coronavirus spreads across the globe, human systems and movement, as we have known them, have been put on hold. People all over the world are keeping each other posted on their safety, worries and needs. In a time that can be scary and strange, initiatives have been launched to support each other. Those with time on their hands offer to volunteer, make arts...

A powerful and personal documentary on the Venezuelan public health crisis is participating at this year’s Human Rights Competition of Verzió. Está todo bien’s director Tuki Jencquel gave us some insights on the day of the premier at Verzió.

Interview with Alexander Nanau, director of Colectiv (2019), Verzio16 opening film by Oksana Sarkisova  

Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur economist fighting for the rights of China’s Uyghur minority, is the winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019. The winner was chosen by Parliament’s political leaders on 24 October 2019.

Rosie Garthwaite is the producer of the multi award-winning film The Workers Cup that premiered on the opening night of Sundance 2017 and was screened in the 15th Verzio Film Festival. We talked to her about the shooting, and her insights of the immigrant workers’ situation in Qatar.

Entering CEU last Friday evening was a very different experience from the usual serene atmosphere that one is used to just before the weekend. Loud chitchat, people waiting outside the auditorium, and nervous excitement in the air – it was the End-of-Semester Documentary Film Screening. These screenings have grown into a somewhat friendly tradition at the university where students have the unique...

Marish is a modern day slave in Hungary, owned by a lady, Eta, who is proud to “own” multiple servants in her home. Growing up in the heart of the more developed parts of Asia in Singapore and Hong Kong, where the domestic helper industry is large, I did not find it bizarre to have someone living in the house and doing all the cooking and cleaning.  

No Obvious Signs (Alina Gorlova, 2017) won 5 awards, but what makes this movie really worth to watch is its in-depth content, a honest, natural portrait of a traumatised person. The first salient thing we notice is Alina Gorlova’s line of vision: there is a notable non-large-scale lens shot with a camera, which creates the emotion of claustrophobia, belonging to the protagonist.