On Thursday, February 13th, 2025, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination presents a screening of the acclaimed documentary film Between Silence and Sin, with a Q&A after with director Diana Nicolae. The event is the first screening of the film in the US after appearing in prestigious film festivals throughout Europe, including taking part in the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremonies presided by the Spanish Royal Family.
Between Silence and Sin is a documentary about Romanian poet and activist Ana Blandiana, a symbol in the fight for democracy and freedom of speech, values that are again under threat around the world. She is a legendary figure in Romanian culture, comparable to Anna Akhmatova or Vaclav Havel. She has been called one of Europe’s greatest living poets, and has published dozens of books of poetry and prose, which have been translated into 24 languages around the world. Among her many awards include the European Poet of Freedom Prize, the Griffin Trust’s Lifetime Recognition Award, the Gottfried von Herder Prize from the Austrian Academy, and the Légion d’Honneur from France. In 2024, she received the Princess of Asturias Award, one of the most prestigious awards for literature in the world.
The documentary delves into Blandiana’s decades-long career in the context of one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships, where poetry represented the “last molecules of freedom” and poets that dared to speak the truth became icons – as well as targets. As authoritarian governments wrestle for control throughout the world, in countries long considered to be bulwarks of democracy and free speech, Between Silence and Sin explores the power of the word as the last bastion of a nation’s collective soul in the face of oppression.
Between Silence and Sin Trailer
About Diana Nicolae
Diana Nicolae, Producer & Director, is an accomplished documentary filmmaker with more than two decades of diverse media experience. A native Romanian, she began her career in media working as a TV news reporter in the post-Communist era, prior to working as a writer for BBC Radio and Radio Romania on the first dramatic series inspired by the country in transition to democracy. She has produced and directed several shorts and four feature documentary films about Romania, delving into topics as diverse as abuse in Communist-era prisons, intellectual migration from Eastern Europe, and UNESCO heritage sites. Her films have screened at film festivals worldwide and been broadcast on public television in the United States and Romania, and been included in the film archives of the Hoover Institute and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial. She is a professor of documentary and television at Rowan University.
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