This year's festival, which opens Friday, will also feature the world premiere of Nae Caranfil's The Rest Is Silence, a $3.2m retelling of the filming of the first Romanian feature in 1911.
Late last year, producer Cristian Comeaga told ScreenDaily that the time was ripe for a big-budget Romanian film. Funded entirely from Romanian source, the film cost roughly twice as much as other major Romanian films.
'On the eve of Romania's acceptance in the EU, many people and institutions in the country have supported a film about Romanian filmmakers being in the European avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century,' the producer said.
Caranfil's film is part of a three-day marathon of Romanian films which also includes Un Certain Regard winner California Dreamin' from the late director Cristian Nemescu and Radu Muntean's unsentimental look at the fall of Ceausescu, The Paper Will Be Blue.
The jury will include Lars von Trier's long-time producer Vibeke Windelov, European Film Promotion president Claudia Landsberger, British Council Arts program manager Christine Bardsley, Romanian actor Razvan Vasilescu, and Romania DOP Vivi Dragan Vasile.
Franco Nero and Romanian actress Irina Petrescu will receive a lifetime achievement awards. Romanian actress Ioana Bulca will receive the Excellency Award.
This year's festival will be held June 1-10 in two cities, Cluj and Sibiu.
Competition films
4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (Romania, dir. Cristian Mungiu)
The Antenna (Argentina, dir. Esteban Sapir)
Children (Iceland, dir. Ragnar Bragason)
Cover Boy (Italy, dir. Carmine Amoroso)
Dark Blue Almost Black (Spain, dir. Daniel Sánchez Arevalo)
Ex Drummer (Belgium-Netherlands-Italy, dir. Koen Mortier)
Falkenberg Farewell (Sweden, dir. Jesper Ganslandt)
A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints (US, dir. Dito Montiel)
Klopka (Serbia, dir. Srdjan Golubovic)
La sagrada familia (Chile, dir. Sebastian Campos)
Reprise (Norway, dir. Joachim Trier)
So Long My Heart! (Switzerland, dir. Oliver Paulus)
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