The winners of TIFF 2025: “The problem in Palestine are not the Palestinians, but the occupation – and it must cease,” heard on the stage. “New Year that was not”, awarded as the most popular Romanian film

The stories about survival, physical and emotional, where the marginalized ones are struggling for a life almost normal, and the stories in which the archive and historical events, as inspiration, become a key element in the construction of the message and emotion – are among the most appreciated and awarded by the jury at TIFF. The 23rd edition of the festival took place at the National Opera Cluj-Napoca, and the gala evening started with a Capella concert of the Madrigal Choir.

• Hotnews correspondence, Dana Coțovanu, transmits from TIFF, the largest film festival in Romania, reached the 24th edition, which takes place on June 13-22 in Cluj-Napoca.

“The problem in Palestine is not the Palestinians, but the occupation – and it must cease.” – is the message of Mahdi Fleifel (photo), transmitted video to TIFF. The winner of the Grand Prize of the Festival – Transylvania Trophy, worth 10,000 euros – was the film team Foreign land (To a land unknownUK).

It took efforts for 10 years for the movie to be ready. The subject of the film is a strong drama of two Palestinian refugees living in Athens. Due to the pressure of life and despair, one of them arrives, step by step, to use and manipulate those around you to survive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18HFOEEKVM0

The prize for the section of the Romanian film days, New Year that was not (r. Bogdan Mureșanu), was designated the best feature film. Emilia Dobrin, the actress who plays Margareta Dincă in New Year that was notreceived the prize for the entire activity.

Another moment dedicated to world cinema was the prize for the entire activity – A recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the world of film – Bela Tarr.

Maria de Medearos, who debuted in the world of film at 15 and has played in over 100 films, is especially known for the role FabienneBruce Willis's dreamy beloved in the cult movie pulp fiction (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino – received which received the Transylvania trophy for the special contribution to world cinema.

The Prize for Excellence was awarded to the Documentary Movie Director Andrei Ujică. Special projection of his newest film, Twst – Things We Said Today.

Pleading for a “ungrateful job”

At the gala, Mihai Chirilov made a plea for film criticism and spoke about his need, before giving the film critic Valerian Sava – at which point Mihai Chirilov, the artistic director of the festival, said an emotional plea in the defense of the film criticism:

“The critic, as a rule, is a critical person, an ungrateful job. Critics are loved when applauding and even detesting when they go to the ground. But I do not like it as a director or I know, but because he loves the movie, and the movie simply was not to his taste. Directors, actors, producers, image director, the critic is somewhere in line, but his mission is just as important.

During the event – Bright future (r. Andra Macmasters) won the Prize of the Romanian Film Days for debut, an archive -based documentary about the 1989 World Youth Festival in North Korea. FIPRESCI Award has been awarded to the film Triton (Ana Lungu), an emotional fresco made of Romanian archive materials. The Award for Regie (3,500 euros) went to Noaz Deshe for Xoftex (Germany), a movie about Palestinian teenagers in a refugee camp. The special jury award (1,500 euros) was offered to the experimental film Debut (USA), directed by Julian Castronovo. Ghjuvanna Benedetti received the award for best interpretation for his role in United (France).

The list of prizes

Among the mentioned ones, prizes have been offered such as:

• The prize for best director, offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), was won by Noven Deshe for the film Xoftex (Germany), a title that explores current social themes with sensitivity.
• The special jury prize, also from the ICR, returned to Julian Castronovo for the film Debut (USA), an experimental production that impressed by originality.
• Ghjuvanna Benedetti was rewarded with the best interpretation award offered by conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim, for his role in drama United (France).
• The section dedicated to the documentary, “What's up, doc?”, Grained the Prize of the Film Saturn (Spain) and special mentions were provided to productions The return of the projectionist (France) and Letters on Wolf Street (Poland).
• During the days of the Romanian film, the prize for the best feature has returned to the film New Year that was not (Romania), directed by Bogdan Mureșanu, who also received the prize for the most popular Romanian film, offered by Vodafone.
• For the beginning, Andra Macmasters was distinguished with the Prize of the Romanian Film Days for the film Bright future.
• To the short film category, aid (Romania), directed by Valentin-Răraș Fogoroș, received a substantial prize, including technical services offered by CuitaFilm.
• The public prize, awarded by Mastercard, was won by Deafness (Spain).
• In the competition dedicated to young people, the Youth Award (Teen Spirit) award was offered to the film Lucia and sin (Slovenia) and the special mention of the jury went to Girls from the train station (Spain).
• The Ecumenical Jury Award offered by Signis and Interfilm, was won by peacock (Germany) and the mention of the ecumenical jury was attributed to the film It's raining over Babel (Colombia).
• Also, the Signis Prize for a short film in the Romanian Film Days section was granted by Signis Romania.

As the Gala opened, the Madrigal Choir will be the one that will close it tomorrow, next to the Orchestra of the Cluj-Napoca Opera, on the stage of the Arena BT. The film will be designed Amadeus (directed by Miloš Forman, 1984), which illustrates the life and activity of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the soundtrack will be interpreted live, within a cons.