Spanish director Carlos Sais won the top prize at Transylvania International Airport on Saturday. At the same festival, the jury awarded the director his first Transylvania Trophy. The film is a drama about a young man who goes on a journey with his father to repair a relationship marked by years of absence and misunderstanding.
Accepting the award on stage at the historic National Theater in Cluj, Saiz said: “This is a film about family and second chances, but above all, it is a film that brings to the forefront the stories of people who are rarely seen on screen. Thank you for helping to bring them into the spotlight and honoring them with this award.”
The competition’s main jury consisted of veteran Irish actor Aidan Gillen (“Game of Thrones”); Romanian film director Noahs Desche (“Xoftex”); Polish distributor, producer and festival founder Roman Gutek. Sandra den Hammer, CEO of the Dutch Film Fund. and Serbian-Romanian film director Ivana Mladenovic (“Sorella di Clausura”).
In other awards, Greek filmmaker Konstantina Cozzamani won best director for Titanic Ocean, a fantastical pop odyssey about adolescence, love and the freedom to imagine another world, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The Special Jury Prize went to “Our Father,” directed by Serbian director Goran Stanković, which depicts a drug addict who falls under the strict tutelage of an abusive priest in a remote monastic commune.
The award for best performance went to the entire cast of Muriel Dansembourg’s True Naked (Caolan O’Gorman, Andrew Howard, Alessa Savage and Safiyah Benadi), who praised the film for its exploration of vulnerability, intimacy and how people try to reconnect with one another.
In the Romanian Days competition, the Best Feature Film award went to Y, directed by Maria Popistas and Alex Baciu. This work delves into a dark and little-known chapter of Romania’s recent past. The award for best debut went to Cristian Botha’s “Back and Forth,” about a young actor who is forced to confront his past while traveling with his authoritarian father.
The Romanian Days jury awarded a special award to Valerie Andreusch’s The Circle, while the category’s Best Short Film award went to Dan Panaet’s County Capital.
In the “What’s Up, Doc?” category, “Memory,” directed by Vladlena Sandu, won the top prize. The film is a deeply personal hybrid documentary in which the filmmaker revisits his childhood experiences during the Chechen wars and the imprint they left on the present day. The film won the People’s Choice Award at last year’s Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days Sidebar, and continues its impressive run, winning the Jury Prize at the Marrakech Film Festival and Best Feature at SXSW London.
Special mention from What’s Up, Doc? The jury chose “Variations on a Theme” by South African directing duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar. The film is a documentary about a historic rural community that won this year’s Tiger Competition in Rotterdam.
Finally, Hungarian director Gábor Holtai won the Audience Award for his dramatic thriller “Feels Like Home,” while Dan Dinu’s “Wild Delta” was named the festival’s most popular Romanian film.
Other highlights of Saturday’s closing ceremony included the awarding of the TIFF.25 Trophy (a special award given in commemoration of the festival’s 25th anniversary) to Corneliu Porumboi, one of the leading figures of the Romanian new wave.
The Transylvania International Airport Film Festival will be held from June 12th to 21st.
