02/08/2021 - Features from Spain, Lithuania and Poland were also among the winners at the 20th edition of the Romanian gathering

Director Philipp Yuryev with the Transilvania Trophy for The Whaler Boy

There were many things to celebrate at the 20th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (23 July-1 August, Cluj-Napoca), which kicked off with a symbolic simultaneous gala in 20 Romanian towns and a campaign dubbed #impreunaprinfilm (lit. “#togetherthroughcinema”).

At the awards gala, the jury chaired by Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga handed the Transilvania Trophy, the festival’s top award, to Philipp Yuriyev’s The Whaler Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philipp Yuryev
film profile] (Poland/Russia/Belgium), as it is “a wonderful, meticulous portrait of an isolated community and of the dreams of a boy dazed by social media”. One of the very few Romanian LGBT productions, Eugen Jebeleanu’s Poppy Field [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eugen Jebeleanu
film profile] (Romania), received two highly coveted accolades at the gala, the Best Director Award and the Audience Award, the latter being given to the most popular film out of the 12 competing titles, based on the votes cast by the audience.

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The jury handed out the Best Performance Award to Spanish actress Petra Martínez for her role in David Martín de los Santos’ That Was Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damián París and Rosa Garcí…
interview: David Martín de los Santos
film profile] (Spain/Belgium). A Special Mention of the Jury, for how it conveys the “absurdity of war”, was given to Marat Sargsyan’s The Flood Won't Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marat Sargsyan
film profile] (Lithuania).

For the second consecutive year, the FIPRESCI jury gave its award to a film in the festival’s Romanian Days competition, and this year it was bestowed upon Bogdan George Apetri’s thriller Unidentified [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Romania/Latvia/Czech Republic). The top award in this competition went to Ruxandra Ghiţescu’s Otto the Barbarian [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruxandra Ghiţescu
film profile] (Romania/Belgium).

Here is the complete list of awards handed out at the festival’s 20^th-anniversary edition:

Main competition

Transilvania Trophy
The Whaler Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philipp Yuryev
film profile] - Philipp Yuryev (Poland/Russia/Belgium)

Best Director
Eugen Jebeleanu - Poppy Field [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eugen Jebeleanu
film profile] (Romania)

Special Jury Prize
Pebbles - PS Vinothraj (India)

Best Performance
Petra Martinez - That Was Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damián París and Rosa Garcí…
interview: David Martín de los Santos
film profile] (Spain/Belgium)

Special Mention of the Jury
The Flood Won't Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marat Sargsyan
film profile] - Marat Sargsyan (Lithuania)

Audience Award
Poppy Field - Eugen Jebeleanu

Romanian Days

Best Feature
Otto the Barbarian [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruxandra Ghiţescu
film profile] - Ruxandra Ghiţescu (Romania/Belgium)

Best First Feature
#dogpoopgirl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Huţuleac
film profile] - Andrei Huţuleac (Romania)

Best Short Film
When Night Meets Dawn - Andreea Borţun (Romania)
Special Mention
Cradle - Paul Mureşan (Romania)

FIPRESCI Award
Unidentified [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Bogdan George Apetri (Romania/Latvia/Czech Republic)

Audience Award
Wild Romania [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Dan Dinu, Cosmin Dumitrache (Romania)