The 25th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), to be celebrated from 12-21 June in Cluj-Napoca, has unveiled the full line-ups for its three competitive sections, bringing together “a mix as polarising as today’s reality itself”, as stated by artistic director Mihai Chirilov.

The International Competition features 12 first and second features from around the world, eight of which are European productions or co-productions. Among the most highly anticipated titles is No One Will Know by Vincent Maël Cardona, who returns to TIFF after Magnetic Beats. The French director blends heist and slasher conventions in a high-concept story revolving around a winning lottery ticket and the destructive pull of sudden wealth. Spain is represented by Carlos Saiz’s debut road movie, Lionel, built around a cast consisting of a real-life family and making use of an unconventional process in which the performers were never shown the screenplay. Other European titles include the Hungarian debut feature Feels Like Home by Gábor Holtai, a claustrophobic family thriller, echoing Yorgos Lanthimos’s unsettling atmospheres; the Dutch-Belgian-French coming-of-age drama Truly Naked by first-time filmmaker Muriel d'Ansembourg; Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s Butterfly (Norway/Sweden/UK/Germany); Goran Stankovic’s Our Father (Serbia/Italy/Croatia/North Macedonia/Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina); and Titanic Ocean by Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani, the only Romanian co-production in the section, which comes fresh off its Cannes premiere.

The fifth edition of the What’s Up, Doc? competition continues to push the boundaries of documentary cinema, with eight debut works among its ten selected titles – and European productions once again dominate the line-up. Spain contributes Adrian Canoura’s We Were Left Alone, described as an experimental cinematic letter from a son to a seafaring father. The French-Nepalese co-production Goodbye Sisters by Alexander Murphy follows two sisters on a final journey home, while the queer story Bouchra (Italy/Morocco/USA), directed by Orian Yani Barki and Meriem Bennani, combines 3D animation with documentary techniques in an inventive narrative structure. Norway is represented by Maja Holand’s debut, Hex, following three friends who are determined to become famous as witches and heavy-metal performers. France returns with Of Mud and Blood by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud, exploring the human cost of coltan extraction in DR Congo, while Far from Maine, directed by Roy Cohen and co-produced by France, Italy and Hungary, offers a nuanced reflection on conflict and peace.

The Romanian Days strand once again serves as a showcase for the country’s emerging cinema, presenting 11 features and 20 shorts in competition. Among the fiction debuts are Andreea Borțun’s A River’s Gaze, produced by Sebastian Stan and centred on a single mother in rural southern Romania; The Circle by actor-turned-director Valeriu Andriuță; A Safe Place by writer-director Cecilia Ștefănescu; and Ioana Mischie’s feature debut, Catane.

The section also includes Y, directed by Maria Popistașu and Alex Baciu; Mihai Mincan’s Venice-premiered Milk Teeth; Andrei Epure’s Don’t Let Me Die; and documentary works such as Something Familiar by UK-Romanian filmmaker Rachel Taparjan as well as Lenin’s Pawn by Dragoș Turea, examining Soviet memory in contemporary Moldova.

Beyond the competitions, the festival will also host a complete retrospective dedicated to Romanian helmer Corneliu Porumboiu, who will receive the festival’s special anniversary trophy, while the Country in Focus this year is the Netherlands.