El incendio / The Fire, from Argentina, directed by Juan Schnitman, is the winner of the Transilvania Trophy. The winners of the 14th edition of Transilvania IFF were announced on Saturday evening, at the National Theatre in Cluj, during the Closing Gala of the festival. The main award, in amount of 15.000 Euro, was handed out on stage by actress Nastassja Kinski, Dennis Lim – member of the Jury – and the Minister of Culture, Ionuț Vulpescu. The jury praised the film for “for its vitality, ambition and sense of risk in dealing with a complex subject”.
Along with Dennis Lim, the jury, comprised of Violeta Bava (programmer of Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival BAFICI), George Ovashvili (director), Olimpia Melinte (actress) and Juliette Lepoutre (producer), also offered the Best Direction Award, in amount of 5.000 Euro. Juliette Lepoutre and Her Highness, Princess Maria, presented the award towards Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, for their second feature, The Lesson / Urok. The same film brough actress Margita Gosheva her Award for Best Performance – 1.000 Euro.
The Special Jury Award – 1.500 euro, offered by HBO, went to Rams / Hrútar, directed by Grímur Hákonarson (Iceland-Denmark), “a moving and beautiful depiction of human-animal relations”, according to the jury. Director Grímur Hákonarson picked up the award from actor Isaach de Bankolé. The same film was also the audience favourite, winning the Audience Award with the most votes for a film in the competition. The award was offered by MasterCard. The most popular film from the entire selection was Operation Arctic, directed by Grethe Bøe-Waal, from Norway. The FIPRESCI Prize, offered by the Federation of Film Critics for a film in the Words Are Very Unnecessary section, went to the Russian drama Test / Ispytanie, directed by Aleksandr Kott.
Festival President Tudor Giurgiu introduced the Guest of Honour of the evening, Nastassja Kinski, who was offered the Special Award for the Contribution to World Cinema. Romanian actor Marin Moraru was given the Excellency Award, presented by journalists Cătălin Ștefănescu and Andreea Esca.
British actor Richard Johnson was homaged post-mortem with a Lifetime Achievement Award, in memoriam. Johnson starred in 1968 in a Romanian film directed by Mircea Drăgăn, Columna, playing Roman Emperor Tiberius, and was seen this year in the Transilvania IFF Competition, in Radiator, by Tom Browne, who accepted the award in Johnson’s honour. Sadly, Richard Johnson passed away the night before the gala. He was born in 1927, in London, appearing in over 130 films.
For the second year consecutively, Corneliu Porumboiu took home the Romanian Days Award for Best Feature Film (6.000 Euro in post-production services, offered by Cinelabs Romania), for Comoara. Last year the same award was offered to his film, The Second Game. Nicolae Constantin Tănase won the Romanian Days Award for Best Debut, in amount of 1.000 Euro, offered by Raiffeisen Bank. The Romanian Days Award for Best Short Film, in amount of 1.500 Euro, offered by Jameson was given ex aequo to Ramona, by Andrei Crețulescu, and Black Friday, by Roxana Stroe. The Special Mention of the Short Film Jury in the Romanian Days is Pavel, by Alexandru Ranta. Best Film Award in the Shadows Shorts Competition, in amount of 500 euro, was offered by Shorts TV to El bosque negro, by Paul Urkijo Alijo (Spain).
The second edition of Transilvania Pitch Stop brought on the stage three young Romanian directors with projects in development, awarded after the pitching sessions with producers and other Romanian and foreign directors. In TPS, dedicated to young directors, two awards were given: the Transilvania Pitch Stop Development Award, in amount of 2.000 Euro cash award, offered by Transilvania IFF and Diferit, to The Soldiers, by Ivana Mladenovic, and the Transilvania Pitch Stop CoCo Award, offered by Connecting Cottbus Co-Production Market, for 1985, by Bogdan Mureșanu. The Young Francophone Jury Prize, offered by TV5, RFI Romania and the French Institute was Vie sauvage, by Cédric Kahn (Belgium-France).