27/06/2022 - All of the other awards at this year’s edition went to European productions, such as Beautiful Beings, Feature Film About Life and The Night Belongs to Lovers

Director Alejandro Loayza Grisi with his Transilvania Trophy for Utama

After two editions where the Transilvania International Film Festival (17-26 June, Cluj-Napoca) was the only big Romanian film event to hold a physical, albeit scaled-back, iteration, this year the festival bounced back with a 21^st edition that was almost as complex as the gathering we used to know from before the pandemic. The top award, the Transilvania Trophy, went to Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alejandro Loayza
film profile], which also won the Audience Award, making it the first movie in the history of the festival to achieve such a feat.

All of the other awards at this edition went to European productions – for example, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] (Best Director) and Dovile Sarutyte’s Feature Film About Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dovile Sarutyte
film profile] (Special Jury Prize). Actors Laura Müller and Schemci Lauth shared the Best Performance Award for their roles in The Night Belongs to Lovers, while Hungarian actress Eszter Csonka received a Special Mention for her excellent performance in Gentle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: László Csuja and Anna Nemes
film profile].

After winning last year’s FIPRESCI Award for Unidentified [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Romanian director Bogdan George Apetri won this year’s Best Film Award in the Romanian Days competition for Miracle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan George Apetri
film profile]. Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Grigore
film profile] won the Best First Feature Award, while Ştefan Constantinescu’s Man and Dog [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ştefan Constantinescu
film profile] scooped a Special Mention.

For its 21st edition, the festival introduced a documentary competition (see our interview with artistic director Mihai Chirilov, where he talks about the interesting “twist” behind the documentary selection), which was won by Sebastian Mihăilescu’s You Are Ceausescu to Me [+see also:
film review
film profile].

Here is the complete list of awards handed out at the festival’s 21st edition:

Main Competition

Transilvania Trophy
Utama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alejandro Loayza
film profile] - Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Bolivia/Uruguay/France)

Best Director
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson - Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] (Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/Czech Republic)

Special Jury Prize
Feature Film About Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dovile Sarutyte
film profile] - Dovile Sarutyte (Lithuania)

Best Performance
Laura Müller, Schemci Lauth - The Night Belongs to Lovers (France)
Special Mention
Eszter Csonka - Gentle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: László Csuja and Anna Nemes
film profile] (Hungary/Germany)

Romanian Days Competition

Best Feature
Miracle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan George Apetri
film profile] - Bogdan George Apetri (Romania/Czech Republic/Latvia)
Special Mention
Man and Dog [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ştefan Constantinescu
film profile] - Ştefan Constantinescu (Romania/Bulgaria/Sweden/Germany)

Best First Feature
Blue Moon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alina Grigore
film profile] - Alina Grigore (Romania)

Best Short Film
Aurică, a Dog's Life - Mihai Dragolea (Romania)
Special Mentions
Inheritance - Marian Fărcuţ (Romania)
Fragmentations - Miruna Minculescu (Romania)

Audience Award for Most Popular Romanian Film
The Goat with Three Kids - Victor Canache (Romania)

Documentary Competition

Best Documentary
You Are Ceausescu to Me [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Sebastian Mihăilescu (Romania)
Special Mention
Atlantide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yuri Ancarani
interview: Yuri Ancarani and Marco Ale…
film profile] - Yuri Ancarani (Italy/France/USA/Qatar)

FIPRESCI Award
Immaculate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Monica Stan, George Chiper-…
film profile] - Monica Stan, George Chiper-Lillemark (Romania)

Audience Award
Utama - Alejandro Loayza Grisi