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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alejandro Loayza
scheda film], 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
scheda film] (Best Director) and Dovile Sarutyte’s Feature Film About Life [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Dovile Sarutyte
scheda film] (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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: László Csuja e Anna Nemes
scheda film].

After winning last year’s FIPRESCI Award for Unidentified [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], Romanian director Bogdan George Apetri won this year’s Best Film Award in the Romanian Days competition for Miracle [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Bogdan George Apetri
scheda film]. Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alina Grigore
scheda film] won the Best First Feature Award, while Ştefan Constantinescu’s Man and Dog [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ştefan Constantinescu
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film].

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

Main Competition

Transilvania Trophy
Utama [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alejandro Loayza
scheda film] - Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Bolivia/Uruguay/France)

Best Director
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson - Beautiful Beings [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
scheda film] (Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/Czech Republic)

Special Jury Prize
Feature Film About Life [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Dovile Sarutyte
scheda film] - Dovile Sarutyte (Lithuania)

Best Performance
Laura Müller, Schemci Lauth - The Night Belongs to Lovers (France)
Special Mention
Eszter Csonka - Gentle [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: László Csuja e Anna Nemes
scheda film] (Hungary/Germany)

Romanian Days Competition

Best Feature
Miracle [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Bogdan George Apetri
scheda film] - Bogdan George Apetri (Romania/Czech Republic/Latvia)
Special Mention
Man and Dog [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Ştefan Constantinescu
scheda film] - Ştefan Constantinescu (Romania/Bulgaria/Sweden/Germany)

Best First Feature
Blue Moon [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Alina Grigore
scheda film] - 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Sebastian Mihăilescu (Romania)
Special Mention
Atlantide [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Yuri Ancarani
intervista: Yuri Ancarani e Marco Alessi
scheda film] - Yuri Ancarani (Italy/France/USA/Qatar)

FIPRESCI Award
Immaculate [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Monica Stan, George Chiper…
scheda film] - Monica Stan, George Chiper-Lillemark (Romania)

Audience Award
Utama - Alejandro Loayza Grisi