On Thursday, February 20 from 5-8 p.m. at Princeton University’s Friend Center, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination will present a screening of the documentary film Between Silence and Sin, followed by a Q&A with director Diana Nicolae.

This is the first screening of the film in the U.S. after appearing in film festivals throughout Europe, including taking part in the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremonies presided by the Spanish royal family.

The documentary is 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.

Blaniana 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 are 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.

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.

Nicolae, who produces and directs the film, is a native of Romania who 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 is a professor of documentary and television at Rowan University.

Additional speakers at the event will be Margaret Beissinger, research scholar and lecturer at Princeton University’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literature; and Nadia Crisan, executive director of the Liechtenstein Institute.

RSVP is required to attend. Visit lisd.princeton.edu.