Comedies, dramas, thrillers, period pieces and, for the first time, a 100% independent found footage Romanian horror: 31 films, some presented as world premieres, will be screened during the Romanian Days section of Transilvania International Film Festival (May 29 – June 7). Eight feature films and 18 short films are competing for the Romanian Days awards, while other five films will be screened out of competition between 4 and 6 June. 

Three films screening in competition are world premieres. București NonStop,Dan Chisu’s sixth feature is a funny portrait of the colorful humans inhabiting the city by night and stars Alexandru Papadopol, Dorian Boguță, Olimpia Melinte, Ion Besoiu, Dorina Lazăr, Gheorghe Ifrim. The World Is Mine, the first feature film by Nicolae Constantin Tănase, is a daring film employing non-professional actors and talking about a rebellious teenager involved in a disastrous relationship. Tănase is the winner of the Best Short Trophy – Transilvania IFF 2012, with Blu.

Another world premiere is Bondoc, an observational documentary by Mihai Mincan, Cristian Delcea & Mihai Voinea. Tragicomical and inhabited by memorable characters, the film tells the story of Dan Bondoc, a 78 year old man who cannot let go of the hobby of a lifetime: chess. Two other documentaries screening in this section are both HBO productions: the multi-awarded Toto and His Sisters (by Alexander Nanau) and Trading Germans (by Răzvan Georgescu).

A surprise for Romanian cinema, Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (by Adrian Țofei), an independent found footage horror shot in Rădăuți and included in Fantasporto IFF competition, will also premiere at TIFF. Obsessed by the idea of making a film with Anne Hathaway, a young Romanian goes to the extreme while using three actresses for a directorial demo reel meant for Anne. 

The much anticipated The Treasure, Corneliu Porumboiu’s new film, a reality-based funny adventure of some treasure hunters, staring Cuzin Toma, comes to Transilvania IFF straight after its Cannes premiere. The eighth film in the competition, Self-Portrait of a Dutiful Daughter (by Ana Lungu) is a nuanced drama about a 30 year old girl’s attempts at financial and sentimental independence. The film has won, among others, the Grand Prize in Crossing Europe, Linz.

Shortly after its Un Certain Regard premiere, but out of competition, One Floor Below by Radu Muntean, which talks about the moral dilemmas of a witness to a murder, will come to TIFF as well. Another Romanian premiere is Station #15033, by Iulia Matei, a documentary about the way in which a place of work can become a second home, focused on a weather man from the Rodna Mountains who works at 1,785 m. The documentary is the recipient of one of the Transilvania Film Festival Fund 2014 grants and is the first project developed and backed by Transilvania IFF that will play during the festival.

The Cluj audiences will also get to see the two Romanian films selected at the 2015 Berlinale: Aferim! (by Radu Jude), winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director, and Why Me?, by Tudor Giurgiu, inspired by the case of the Romanian prosecutor Cristian Panait. Last but not least, out of competition, Transilvania IFF will host the screening of Aliyah DaDa (by Oana Giurgiu), a documentary which chronicles the history of the Jews in Romania, treated in the Dada visual style.

Ambitious and surprising, the 18 shorts screening in the Romanian Days competition are either world premieres or films that have travelled the world in the past year and they are directed by household names such as Adrian Sitaru, Gabriel Achim, Dorian Boguță, Matei Branea, Radu Potcoavă, Andrei Crețulescu, Lucian Dan Teodorovici, Andreea Vălean, Mihai Ionescu, Anton Groves, or first time directors such as Marius Olteanu, Tudor Botezatu, Radu Bărbulescu, Conrad Mericoffer, Roxana Stroe, Ana-Maria Comănescu, Alexandru Ranta and Andrei Tănase. The competition is obviously bigger than last year – 10 additional films – as the number of submissions doubled. Ramona, by Andrei Crețulescu, screening this May in Cannes΄ Semaine de la Critique competition, will have its first domestic screening in Cluj, while Vera, The Big Boys or The Wedding Ring will be screened as world premieres.

The Romanian Days jury is composed of Roberto Cueto, member of the selection committee of San Sebastian International Film Festival, Mimi Plauché, programme Director of Chicago IFF, and Miroslav Mogorovic, producer and former executive manager of Belgrade International Film Festival.