21-06-2026

Lionel Wins 25th Transilvania IFF

By
    The Closing Gala of Transilvania IFF.25 The Closing Gala of Transilvania IFF.25 source: TIFF

    CLUJ-NAPOCA: French/Spanish Lionel by Carlos Saiz received the Transilvania Trophy at the 25th Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 12 to 21 June 2026. Romanian/Greek Y by Maria Popistașu and Alex Baciu won Best Feature Film in the Romanian Days competition.

    Memory (France, the Netherlands) by Vladlena Sandu won the What’s Up, Doc? Award.

    The TIFF.25 Trophy went to Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, who currently lives in France, while Polish distributor Roman Gutek was presented with the Janovics Jenő Award.

    Italian actress Ornella Mutti received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

    FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

    Festival Awards:

    Official Competition:

    Transilvania Trophy:
    Lionel (Spain, France)
    Directed by Carlos Saiz

    Best Directing Award:
    Konstantina Kotzamani for Titanic Ocean (Greece, Germany, Romania, France, Spain, Japan)
    Produced by Homemade Films
    Coproduced by Wunderlust, deFilm (defilm.ro), Manny Films, Frida Films, Happinet Phantom Studios, Mam Film, Bayerischer Rundfunk, ERT, Vodafone TV, and Onassis Culture, in association with Quiddity and Finite Films (UK), Felony (Cyprus), ARTE, Avanpost Media (Romania)
    Supported by Eurimages, the Romanian Film Centre (CNC), FFA, Film-und Medienstiftung NRW, the French CNC, Île-de-France, The CNC and the GFC – French-Greel Co-Production Fund, the Romanian Government, Media Investment Communication, Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals Generalitat de Catalunya, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Romanian Public Television (TVR), Xunta de Galicia

    Special Jury Award:
    Our Father / Oče naš (Serbia, Italy, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
    Directed by Goran Stankovic
    Produced by This and That Productions 
    Coproduced by Nightswim, PomPom FilmDream Factory, Kino, Srđan Novi FilmCineplanet
    Supported by Film Center Serbia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Culture of Italy, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Film Centre of Montenegro, the North Macedonia Film AgencyFilm Fund Sarajevo, MEDIA Creative Europe, the RE-ACT Fund

    Best Performance Award:
    Caolán O’Gorman, Andrew Howard, Alessa Savage and Safiya Benaddi in Truly Naked (the Netherlands, Belgium, France)
    Directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg

    What’s Up, Doc? Competition:

    What’s Up, Doc? Award:
    Memory (France, the Netherlands)
    Directed by Vladlena Sandu

    Special Mention of the “What’s up, Doc?” Jury:
    Variations on a Theme (South Africa, the Netherlands, Qatar)
    Directed by Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar

    Romanian Film Days Competition:

    Romanian Film Days Award - Feature Film Section:
    (Romania, Greece)
    Directed by Maria Popistașu, Alex Baciu
    Produced by Tangaj Production
    Coproduced by View Master Films
    Supported by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC), the Greek Film Centre, the Romanian Television (TVR), Cinema City, Banca Comercială Română, Mega Image, Unicredit, Raiffeisen Bank and Centrul Medical Unirea - Regina Maria

    Romanian Film Days Debut Award:
    Back and Forth / Dus-întors (Romania)
    Directed by Cristi Bota
    Produced by Scharf Film Production
    Supported by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC)

    Special Mention of the Romanian Days Jury:
    The Circle / Cercul (Moldova, Romania)
    Directed by Valeriu Andriuță
    Produced by Amprenta Films
    Coproduced by Idea Film
    Supported by the Moldovan National Film Centre, the Romanian Film Centre (CNC)

    Romanian Film Days Award - Short Film Section:
    County Captain / Capitane de județ (Romania)
    Directed by Dan Panaet

    Other Awards:

    Audience Award:
    Feels Like Home / Itt érzem magam otthon (Hungary)
    Directed by Gábor Holtai
    Produced by CineSuper

    Most Popular Romanian Film Award (Vodafone Hearts’ Award)
    Wild Delta / Delta salbatica (Romania), Documentary
    Directed by Dan Dinu

    TIFF.25 Trophy:
    Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu

    Janovics Jenő Award:
    Polish distributor Roman Gutek

    Excellence Award:
    Romanian actress Anda Onesa

    Lifetime Achievement Award:
    Italian actress Ornella Muti

    FIPRESCI Award:
    Don’t Let Me Die / Nu mă lăsa să mor (Romania, Bulgaria, France)
    Directed by Andrei Epure
    Produced by Saga Film 
    Coproduced by Handplayed, Tomsa Films, Arrogant Films, Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim
    Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Youth Award (TEEN Spirit):
    Sundays / Los Domingos (Spain, France)
    Directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa

    Ecumenical Jury Award:
    Truly Naked (the Netherlands, Belgium, France)
    Directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg

    SIGNIS Award:
    Edges / Margini (Romania)
    Directed by Roberta Șerban

    TIFF RO Days | Industry Events Awards:

    Transilvania Pitch Stop:

    Grand Prize offered by Chainsaw Europe:
    Fathers (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Martin Iliev
    Produced by Handplayed

    TPS Development Award offered by Avanpost:
    Times New Roman (Ukraine)
    Directed by Philip Sotnychenko

    CNC Moldova Award:
    Another Story About My Son (Romania, Bulgaria)
    Directed by Adrian Silișteanu
    Produced by Domestic Film)
    Coproduced by Viktoria World Sales and Distribution

    Connecting CottbusConnecting Cottbus CoCo Lab: East-West Award:
    Mara Crăcăleanu for the project Sun Offspring, directed by Octavian Şaramet

    Luno Award:
    Decebal’s Wedding (Romania)
    Directed by Matei Lucaci-Grünberg
    Produced by Atelier de Film

    Drama Room:

    Best Series Project Award – Development Agreement with PRO TV:
    Stay in School! (Romania)
    Written by Rodica Dominteanu

    Creative Residency at Bethlen-Haller Castle:
    The Story of a Lost Boy (Romania)
    Created by Gabriel Corneanu

    Book to Screen:

    A one-year option agreement with PRO TV:
    Greu de pătruns în pădurea de mesteceni (Romania)
    Written by Ruxandra Burcescu

    Book to Screen Award in the amount of €1,000:
    Tot ce i-am promis tatălui meu (Romania)
    Written by Ioana Maria Stăncescu

    Works in Progress:

    Transilvania HBO Award:

    The Fear’s Artist (Romania)
    Directed by Cristi Iftime
    Produced by Rova Film

    We Won’t Get Old Together (Romania)
    Directed by Marius Olteanu
    Produced by Point Film

    Local Competition:

    Local Competition Award:

    The Nest / Fészek (Romania)
    Directed by Lukács Gergely

    and

    Love Stadium (Romania)
    Directed by Jose Andres Canales

    Special Mention of the Local Competition Jury:
    Railways (Romania)
    Directed by George Sorinca

    Other Awards:

    Young Francophone Jury Award, presented by TV5 Monde, the French Institute, and RFI Romania:
    No One Will Know / Le roi soleil (France)
    Directed by Vincent Maël Cardona

    Alex. Leo Șerban Scholarship:
    Marius Papară for the project Ibida
    Ana-Maria Comănescu for the project Paradox

    Special Mentions within the Alex. Leo Șerban Scholarship:
    Darius Zelenco for the project Kinostetic
    Actress Marina Palii