"colectiv", by Alexander Nanau, chosen best documentary in European Film Awards

"colectiv", directed by Alexander Nanau, was designated on Saturday evening as the best documentary in the European Film Awards, during a ceremony taking place online due to the pandemic. The "colectiv" documentary tells the story of the first year after the Colectiv club fire that took place on October 30, 2015. "It's a great honor and I would like to thank the Academy members for acknowledging our film that speaks about individual power, but also the power of investigative journalism that is a pillar that is more and more important for our democracies. And I think most of all we need to thank our protagonists because of their courage to oppose the corruption of the people in the Romanian healthcare system and politics that steps on lives and we have to thank them for their courage of letting us into their lives. It's a great honor to be nominated among so many great films and film-makers, I appreciate every one of them. Thank you very much and I think that it is very important that European cinema turns its eye towards investigative journalism because I have the feeling we will need it more and more every day," said director Alexander Nanau during his intervention in the gala following the announcement of the award. Among the other five documentary films nominated was another Romanian film, "Acasa" (Home), by Radu Ciorniciuc. The awards ceremony was organized in Berlin, without a public, and was broadcast on the internet page of the European Film Academy (EFA). The nominees were present virtually in the ceremony. "colectiv" is also Romania's proposal for the 2021 Academy Awards, in the section "Best international feature film", previously known as "Best foreign language film." It's the first time that a documentary is Romania's proposal in the race for the Academy Awards. The world premiere of the documentary took place in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Ionut Mares; EN - editor: Razvan-Adrian Pandea)