Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF, June 9-18) has announced the line-up for its 22nd edition which takes place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
The official competition is made up of 12 features while the documentary strand, entitled What’s Up Doc?, will screen 10 titles. All of the films are from first and second-time directors.
Among the competition selection is Ion Bors’ Carbon which premiered in San Sebastian’s New Directors strand last year, having won the festival’s WIP Europa Industry and WIP Europa awards the previous year. The dark comedy, surrounding the Transnistrian conflict of the 1990s, is Moldova’s first film to play at TIFF and was awarded by the Transilvania Pitch Stop jury back in 2019.
Other titles include Carolina Markowicz’s Charcoal, which premiered in Toronto’s Platform strand after going through Karlovy Vary’s First Cut lab, and The Uncle from David Kapac and Andrija Mardesic which received a special mention at Karlovy Vary last year.
The festival also features a focus strand on Nordic cinema with two of the titles playing in competition - Tia Kouvo’s Family Time, a Finland-Sweden co-production which had its world premiere at Berlin’s Encounters strand, and Christian Lollike’s The Cake Dynasty.
In the documentary strand, Theo Montoya’s Anhell69 is among the titles competing. Exploring Colombia’s young queer generation, the film world premiered at Venice in 2022 and won the top prize at DOK Leipzig. Recent Visions Du Reel Grand Prix winner Like An Island, directed by Tizian Büchi, is also competing.
Rush honour
TIFF also announced that it will honour Australian actor Geoffrey Rush with a lifetime achievement award.
Rush, who is best known for his roles in The King’s Speech, Shakespeare In Love and the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, will be at the festival’s closing gala on June 17 to receive the award.
In addition, the actor will attend a special screening of Scott Hicks’ 1996 drama Shine for which Rush won the best actor Oscar.
TIFF Official Competition
Banger (Czech)
Dir. Adam Sedlák
Carbon (Mol-Rom)
Dir. Ion Bors
Charcoal (Arg-Bra)
Dir. Carolina Markowicz
Family Time (Fin-Swe)
Dir. Tia Kuovo
Like A Fish On The Moon (Iran)
Dir. Dornaz Hajiha
Noémie Says Yes (Can)
Dir. Geneviève Albert
Stillness In The Storm (Sp)
Dir. Alberto Gastesi
The Barbarians (Arg-Fr)
Dir. Andrew Sala
The Cake Dynasty (Den)
Dir. Christian Lollike
The Uncle (Cro-Serb)
Dirs. David Kapac and Andrija Mardesic
Upon Entry (Sp)
Dir. Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vasquez
What’s Up Doc? Competition
100 Seasons (Swe)
Dir. Giovanni Bucchieri
Anhell69 (Col-Rom-Fr-Ger)
Dir. Theo Montoya
Crows Are White (US)
Dir. Ahsen Nadeem
Dogwatch (Gre-Fr)
Dir. Gregoris Rentis
Knit’s Island (Fr)
Dirs. Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’Helgouac’h
Like An Island (Switz)
Dir. Tizian Büchi
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Est-Fr-Ice)
Dir. Anna Hints
The Land You Belong (It-Bel-Rom)
Dir. Elena Rebeca Carini
The Cathedral (Slovakia)
Dir. Denis Dobrovoda
The Outliers (Fr)
Dir. Raphaël Mathié
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