14/07/2020 - Eight movies are first features, and seven of them hail from European countries

Amid an unexpected amount of uncertainty, as indoor venues in Romania are unlikely to be available during the gathering, the Transilvania International Film Festival (31 July-9 August, Cluj-Napoca) has announced the 12 titles set to compete for the festival’s awards. And one thing is certain: one of them will go home with the top award, the Transilvania Trophy.

Artistic director Mihai Chirilov describes the movies as courageous and diverse, covering genres such as black comedy, thriller, erotic drama and experimental film. “Their common denominator is family dynamics and all the types of crises that are packaged within it,” Chirilov says in a press release. No Romanian films are in this year’s competition, even though the Romanian Days sidebar selection offers a record-breaking number of domestic productions (see the news).

The European productions vying for the Transilvania Trophy are Tim Mielants’ Patrick [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Tim Mi…
interview: Tim Mielants
film profile] (Belgium/Netherlands), which will be distributed in Romania later this year by Transilvania Film; Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Svetla Tsotsorkova
film profile] (Bulgaria/Qatar); Bartosz Kruhlik’s Supernova [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bartosz Kruhlik
film profile] (Poland); Jeanette Nordahl’s Wildland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jeanette Nordahl
film profile] (Denmark); Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zoé Wittock
film profile] (France/Luxembourg/Belgium); Zacharias Mavroeidis’ Defunct [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Greece); and Peter Mackie Burns’ Rialto [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Mackie Burns
film profile] (Ireland/UK).

The multi-continental competition for the Transilvania Trophy also includes Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud in Her Room (China), Nicolás Rincón Gille’s Valley of Souls [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Colombia/Belgium/Brazil/France), Amir Homayoun Ghanizadeh’s A Hairy Tale (Iran), Nigina Sayfullaeva’s Fidelity (Russia) and Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth (Australia).

The 19th edition of TIFF will kick off on 31 July with a special screening of Nicolas Bedos’ La Belle Époque [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Bedos
film profile], which will later be distributed in Romania by Independenţa Film.