Emotion, extreme tension and surprising attempts of young filmmakers to revive genre cinema are the main ingredients of this year΄s TIFF Official Competition (May 29 – June 7). 12 films will compete for the Transilvania Trophy – five are debut features and seven are made by second time directors – coming from countries such as Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Iceland, Great Britain, Mexico, Spain and the USA.

“This year, I favored intimate films and those productions that resort, in an intelligent and surprising manner, to the conventions of genre cinema. On one hand, emotion, and on the other, tension (…) There are films with only two or three characters, films whose story rarely leaves the four walls of a room, films whose tense action scenes are more efficient than any Hollywood blockbuster”, said artistic director Mihai Chirilov during the press conference presentation.

Official Competition 2015 features one Balkan film, the Bulgarian/Greek The Lesson by Krisitina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, already awarded at prestigious international film fests. Other titles competing for the Transilvania Trophy include, among others, Rams by Grímur Hákonarson (Iceland/Denmark, 2015, Cannes΄ Un Certain Regard 2015), Tom Browne΄s Amour-like drama Radiator (UK, 2014), the Venice 2014 Summer Nights by Mario Fanfani (France, 2014) and Karlovy Vary΄s Competition dramedy Paris of the North by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (Iceland/France/Denmark, 2014).

Four Balkan feature films are included in the non-competitive Supernova section which focuses on awarded international productions, and special premieres of films which are about to be distributed domestically: No One΄s Child by Vuk Rsumovic (Serbia/Croatia, 2013), Song of my Mother by Erol Mintas (Turkey/France, 2014), Holidays in the Sun by Srdjan Dragojevic (Serbia/Montenegro, 2015) and Itsi Bitsi by Ole Christian Madsen (Denmark/Croatia/Sweden, 2014).

A number of Balkan films and co-productions are also included in the different non-competitive sections of TFF 2015 – some Romanian titles also feature at the Romanian Days Competition Section. Let΄s have a look at them:

Forever by Margarita Manda (Greece, 2014 – Words Are Very Unnecessary section) 

Xenia by Panos. H. Koutras (Greece/France/Belgium, 2014 – Unirii Square section)

The Treasure by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania/France, 2015 -  Unirii Square section)

Why Me? by Tudor Giurgiu (Romania/Bulgaria, 2015 - Unirii Square section)

Zivan Makes a Punk Festival by Ognjen Glavonic (Serbia/Montenegro, 2014 – Special Events section)

Operation Monster by Manole Marcus (Romania, 1976 – Special Screenings section)

YouTube Bazaar by Dan Chisu (Romania, 2015 - Special Screenings section)

Outside by Andrei Schwartz (Germany/Romania, 2014 -  Special Screenings section)

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu by Cristi Puiu (Romania, 2005 -  Special Screenings section)

Remake, Remix, RipOff by Cem Kaya (Germany/Turkey, 2014 – What΄s Up, Doc? section)

Toto and His Sisters by Alexander Nanau (Romania, 2014 – Edukatiff section)

Chuck Norris Vs. Communism by Ilinca Calugareanu (Romania/UK/Germany, 2015 – HBO Day section)

The Network by Claudiu Mitcu (Romania, 2015 -  HBO Day section)

The Birdman by Alexandru Mavrodineanu & Mihai Grecea (Romania, 2014 - HBO Day section)

Trading Germans by Razvan Georgescu (Germany/Romania, 2014 - HBO Day section)

In addition, TIFF΄s Industry section, Cottbus Film Festival΄s Industry (Connecting Cottbus) and Trieste Film Fest΄s When East Meets West Industry section announced few days ago the launching of #FEEDback (Film Eastern Europe Dialogue), a think tank platform on increasing cross-border relationships in East European countries. The topics to be addressed include the permeability between the small territories and moving towards a joint agenda on funding, reaching audience and innovative distribution. Results will be presented at the European Film Market at the 2016 Berlinale. 

Staying on Industry, 8 young directors/screenwriters and producers from Romania and Moldova comprise the 4th edition of Transilvania Talent Lab (May 31 - June 5) programme for emerging filmmakers at the beginning of their career while 5 fiction film projects in early development phase were selected to be part of Transilvania Pitch Stop (June 1 - 6) development workshop, which wraps up with with a pitching session. 

Moreover, the 14th edition of Transilvania International Film Festival will cover a series of conferences, workshops (actress Nastassja Kinski is holding one within Transilvania Talent Lab and will be awarded the Special Award for the Contribution to the World Cinema at the closing ceremony), panels and debates, thematic sections focusing on a specific national cinema (Focus), sections focused on the work of three Romanian or foreign directors, each of them celebrated through three films (3X3), concerts, photo exhibitions, book launches, and so on.