Christie Iftaim’s “The Fear’s Artist” and Marius Orteanu’s “We Won’t Get Old Together” won major awards at the industry awards ceremony at Transylvania International Airport. At the festival, two Romanian projects from the Works in Progress program were named double winners of the first Transylvania HBO Awards.
The 30,000 euro ($34,400) prize was handed out to two of the seven projects in progress that were judged by a panel of industry experts in Cluj this week. The decision was made by a jury consisting of Georges Goldenstern, founder of Arte France Cinema and former executive manager of the Cinéfondation in Cannes. Loreta Gandolfi, Senior Curator of the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival in Colombia. Siahei Samucevich is a film programmer and critic at Warner Bros. Discovery, where he works on content planning and programming for HBO and HBO Max.
Olteanu’s second feature, We Want to Get Old Together, is a pandemic drama about a man struggling to rebuild his life from scratch when everything around him collapses. The director’s first feature film “Monsters.” premiered in the Forum section of the Berlin Film Festival in 2019 and won the Tagesspiegel Audience Award.
Details of “The Fear’s Artist” have not been made public, but it will be Iftime’s first full-length work in almost 10 years, since his debut film “Marita” won an award in Karlovy Vary in 2017.
At the Transylvanian Pitch Stop Co-Production Forum, the grand prize, presented by post-production company Chainsaw Europe, was awarded to Fathers (Handplayed), directed by Bulgarian Martin Iliev and produced by Angel Ivanov. The film depicts a young director who receives a life-threatening diagnosis and is forced to confront old wounds through his journey with his father and confront intergenerational trauma.
The TPS Development Award, presented by post-production company Avanpost, went to Ukrainian director Filip Sotnichenko’s “Times New Roman,” produced by Valeria Sochivets (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema) and Sashko Chuvko (Viatel). Sotnichenko’s second feature follows a Ukrainian artist whose desire for escape sets him on a project to recreate political assassinations across Europe.
The CNC Moldova Award went to Romanian director Adrian Silishteanu’s Another Story About My Son. Produced by Iliana Adnana (Domestic Films) and Maya Vitkova Kosev (Victoria World Sales & Distribution), the film follows a Roma community leader who embarks on a painful journey through grief, memory and acceptance as a film crew helps a film crew recreate the ethnic conflict that claimed the life of her son.
The Connecting Cottbus CoCoLab: East-West Award went to Mara Cracăleanu for the project “Sun Offspring” directed by Octavian Şramet. This folk horror film tells the story of two young lovers, desperate for parenthood, who are drawn into a secluded Romanian wellness community fueled by the terrifying belief that they can meet their children before they are born.
Rounding out the Transylvanian Pitch Stop Awards, the Luno Award went to The Wedding of Decebal, directed by Matej Lukacs-Grünberg and produced by Gabriela Suciu (Atelier de Film). The film follows a traditional Romanian family’s attempt at technology to attend their son’s New York wedding, leading to a hilarious culture clash with his progressive American in-laws.
The Drama Room, which aims to foster original Romanian drama series, won the award for Best Series Project, which includes a development agreement with PRO TV, for “Stay in School!,” written by Rodica Dominteanu, and “The Story of a Lost Boy,” produced by Gabriel Corneanu, was selected for the Creative Residency Award at Bethlen Haller Castle.
The newly launched Book to Screen program, which brings together writers and filmmakers interested in how contemporary literature comes to screen, awarded a one-year option contract with PRO TV to Greu de pătruns în pădurea de mesteceni, by Ruxandra Burcescu, and a €1,000 ($1,100) Book to Screen award to Tot ce i-am”. Promise Tatarui Meu” by Ioana Maria Stanczescu.
Finally, the two famous Alexes. The Leo Scherban Scholarship was awarded to Marius Papara for the project “Ibida” and Ana María Comanescu for the project “Paradox”.
The Transylvania International Airport Film Festival will be held from June 12th to 21st.
