9 feature films and 16 short films enter the Romanian Days competition at Transilvania IFF.22. The selection includes some of last year’s best Romanian films, as well as productions that will have their world premiere in June in Cluj-Napoca. The Romanian Days awards three prizes: for best feature film, best debut, and best short film.

Oameni de treabă / Good People, the latest film by Paul Negoescu, the documentary Vulturii din Țaga / The Eagles of Țaga (dir. Adina Popescu), the documentary De ce mă cheamă Nora, când cerul meu e senin / Why Does Nora Call Me When My Sky Is Clear (dir. Carla Teaha, Romania), and the docudrama Tinerețea unui dictator / The Youth of a Dictator (dir. Andy Lupu) are just a few of the Romanian films that have already sold out screenings at the Romanian Film Days. A total of 25 feature films and short films are competing, and another 10 premieres by Romanian directors are being presented at TIFF.22.

Some of the most anticipated films of the year will have their world premiere during the Romanian Days at Transilvania IFF.22, out of competition. Freedom, director Tudor Giurgiu’s latest film, inspired by a story about the Romanian Revolution in 1989 in Sibiu, will be screened in Piața Unirii Open Air. Alexandru Solomon returns to Transilvania IFF with Arsenie. An Amazing Afterlife, the preview of the long-awaited film about monk Arsenie Boca and his huge popularity. The third documentary to be screened out of competition is Dragoș Lumpan’s Last Transhumance, an ambitious artistic and ethnographic project filmed over ten years in six countries. The programme also includes the comedy Another Lottery Ticket (d. Paul Negoescu), The Dream (d. Cătălin Saizescu), the story of prisoners performing in a theatre show, and the family mountain drama Refuge (d. Liviu Mărghidan), filmed in Piatra Craiului Mountains. The two surprises in the feature film programme are The Young Dictator (d. Andi Lupu), a retro-radical docudrama about the youth of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, and the cryptically titled S.B.C.R.D.F., inspired by a Cekhov play and directed by Iura Luncașu.

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Actors Dorian Boguță, Alexandru Papadopol, and Dragoș Bucur can be met at the screening of Two Lottery Tickets, the sequel to a box office hit from a few years ago. A special moment in the TIFF program is offered by Horațiu Mălăele, who brings his theater performance Sunt un orb / I Am Blind back to Cluj. The actor will also be present at the screening of Piciu, a film that attracted over a million viewers in 1984.

Other highly anticipated titles at TIFF include My Muslim Husband (dir. Daniel Bărnuți, Alexandra Bărnuți), Blue Planet (dir. Dani Sărăcuț), and Day of the Tiger (dir. Andrei Tănase).

The 16 short films selected in the competition can be seen on Friday and Saturday in special screenings scheduled at the Florin Piersic and Sapientia cinemas. The Best Romanian Short Film will be chosen by the jury composed of the well-known British actor Nicholas Pinnock, Riina Mikkonen, the director of the Tampere Film Festival, and Ryszard Mietkiewicz from WIFF, who are also present in Cluj these days.