LINE-UP – Festivalul ANONIMVL

THE OPENNING FILM

YOUNG MOTHERS

JEUNES MÈRES

Countries: Belgium, France

Year: 2025

Runtime: 105 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Cinematography: Benoit Dervaux

Cast: Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaina Halloy Fokan, Lucie Laruelle, Samia Hilmi

Synopsis

Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane and Naïma are housed in a shelter for young mothers. Five teenagers hoping for a better life for themselves and their babies.

Short Bio

Jean-Pierre Dardenne was born in Engis (Belgium) in April 1951, and Luc Dardenne was born in Awirs (Belgium) in March 1954. They have directed numerous documentaries. In 1975, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne founded the production company Dérives, which has produced over eighty documentaries to date, including their own. In 1994, they established the production company Les Films du Fleuve.

Festivals

Official Competition, Cannes Film Festival 2025 - Best Screenplay

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Jean-Pierre și Luc Dardenne

THE CLOSING FILM

ALPHA

Countries: France, Belgium

Year: 2025

Runtime: 126 minutes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Director: Julia Ducournau

Screenplay: Julia Ducournau

Cinematography: Ruben Impens

Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Mélissa Boros, Tahar Rahim, Emma Mackey

Synopsis

Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.

Short Bio

Palme d’or awarded for Titane in 2021, Julia Ducournau has established herself on the front scene of cinema thanks to her powerful and somewhat disturbing works. Her unique approach of genre cinema enables her to transcend taboos. After graduating from La Fémis, where she studied screenwriting, she presented her short film Junior in Cannes 2011, which won awards in many festivals. Her first feature film, Raw, gained international recognition and won the FIPRESCI prize in 2016. In 2020, she directed two episodes of the American series Servant, and in 2022 two episodes of Apple’s series The New Look. She is currently working on her own series in the US with A24 TV and her next feature film.

Festivals

Official Competition, Cannes Film Festival 2025

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Julia Ducournau

Romanian short film competition

LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB

Indonesia, 2024

Runtime: 17 minutes

Director: Khozy Rizal

With: Jordan Omar, Muzakki Ramdhan, Mian Tiara

Synopsis

Set in 2008, Doddy, a 14 year old boy, tries to recreate an iconic scene of a zombie film with three of his best friends, using a handycam belonging to Anji, his sad and angry emo brother.

Director Khozy Rizal

ALIȘVERIȘ

2025

Runtime: 15 minutes

Director: Vasile Todinca

Cast: Florentina Năstase, Ilinca Manolache, Gabriel Spahiu, Cătălina Romaneț

Synopsis

Tatiana, an unemployed woman, spends her days selling her personal things in order to survive. Today she has an important deadline and she might end up selling a piece of her body in order to keep a roof over her head.

Director Vasile Todinca

HOW I LEARNED NOT TO KILL MYSELF

2025

Runtime: 20 minutes

Director: Norbert Boda

With: Corina Ciontu, Șerban Ghilvaci, Teona Stavarachi, Alexandru Chindriș

Synopsis

Ophelia, a young woman, works as a waitress and lives quietly, with headphones on and constant thoughts of suicide. One night, she meets a strange guy at the bar, and a peculiar connection forms between them, as he offers to help her carry out her plan. That same night, however, her father dies.

Director: Norbert Boda

DANCE, QUEEN

2024

Runtime: 19 minutes

Director: Maria Mitulescu

With: Thea Zaharia, Anastasia Florea, Ana Salomia, Valentina Moghina

Synopsis

A perfectly fried ordinary night for a group of teenagers in Vama Veche, until it isn’t. Sasha navigates discomfort in a phantasmagoric journey that awakens associations of sensations that she would not have expected...

Director Maria Mitulescu

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

2025

Runtime: 18 minutes

Director: Claudiu Mitcu

With: Ana Covalciuc, Alex Călin, Diana Cavallioti, Rodica Negrea, Nelu Serghei

Synopsis

The attempt to spend a romantic anniversary at a hotel in Bucharest ends badly for Laura and Marius, having to return to their apartment early. At home they find that romance still exists. Unfortunately, not for them.

Director Claudiu Mitcu

Truth or Dare

2024

Runtime: 17 minutes

Director: Simona Borcea

Cast: Raffaela Rusu, Teodora Moscal, Marin Cumatrenco, Mihai Trăsnea

Synopsis

Alexandra and Denisa, two adolescent sisters, spend the summer holiday in the countryside. Alexandra tries to gain the attention of the older boys and show her older sister that she’s no longer just a kid.

Director Simona Borcea

FRACTI

2024

Runtime: 5 minutes

Director: Lavinia Petrache

Synopsis

Humans live their routines inside an ethereal village floating in the sky. What happens when one of them causes the world to end?

Director Lavinia Petrache

THE MAGICIAN

2025

Runtime: 24 minutes

Director: Bogdan Mureșanu

Voices: Cosmin Șofron, Mihai Gruia Sandu, Ionut Achivoaie, Ioana Flora

Synopsis

Sulina, 1910. It’s the inauguration of the first power station in this Romanian port city. Amid the jubilation of a modern, cosmopolitan crowd, Ilarion, a magician from another era, tries to play his last card.

Director Bogdan Mureșanu

MAMA!

2024

Runtime: 15 minutes

Director: Theodor Ioniță

With: Irina Pavlescu, Ștefania Cazan, Natalia Pop, Simona Popescu

Synopsis

A young mother brings her newborn to a hospital for treatment of a respiratory blockage. In the emergency room, the baby arrives in critical condition, but the mother is nowhere to be found.

Director Theodor Ioniță

NIGHT TERROR

Night Terror

2024

Runtime: 5 minutes

Director: Carmen-Maria Dumitru

Cast: Octavian Muntean

Synopsis

A man is trapped in an abandoned hotel by the sea, constantly threatened by apparitions and strange phenomena, and finally manages to defeat the monstrous spirit that follows him.

Director Carmen-Maria Dumitru

SO REFRESHING

2025

Runtime: 20 de minute

Director: Irina Alexiu

With: Cabiria Morgenstern, Fern Bain Smith, Teodora Nechiță

Synopsis

A quirky Tinder match between a queer Romanian and a London baker leads to a culture-clashing ride through awkward truths, identity, and unexpected intimacy.

Director Irina Alexiu

SUNNY

2025

Runtime: 21 minutes

Director: Andreea Parfenov

With: Karina Jianu, Valeriu Andriuță

Synopsis

Before leaving for University, Sara goes on a fishing trip with her father. The time spent together in the isolation of the Danube Delta, can either bring them closer or widen the gap in their relationship.

Director Andreea Parfenov

ALL THAT REMAINS

2024

Runtime: 24 minutes

Director: Andrei Redinciuc

With: Coca Bloos, Cezar Antal, Alexandru Pavel, Angela Ioan

Synopsis

Elena, a 77 years old woman, has little options to choose from. She decides to put her mentally handicapped son in a soci...

Director Andrei Redinciuc

HUNTERS IN THE SNOW

2024

Runtime: 21 minutes

Director: Mihai Mincan

With: Ștefan Voicu, Istvan Teglas, Dar Ursu

Synopsis

In the aftermath of a hunting expedition gone wrong, three men must reconsider their friendship, revealing each other’s strange and twisted secrets.

Director Mihai Mincan

OFF SECTION CANNES

EAGLES OF THE REPUBLIC

Country: Sweden, France

Year: 2025

Runtime: 129 minutes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Director: Tarik Saleh

Screenplay: Tarik Saleh

Cinematography: Pierre Aim

Cast: Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Zineb Triki, Amr Waked

Synopsis

Egypt's most adored actor, George Fahmy, falls into disgrace with the authorities overnight. On the verge of losing everything, George is forced to accept an offer he can't refuse.

Short Bio

Director and scriptwriter Tarik Saleh (born 1972) started as one of the top graffiti artists in Stockholm in the 80’s. He directed and wrote the screenplay for THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT that won ‘The Grand Jury Prize’ at Sundance 2017, received a Guldbagge Award for ‘Best film’ in 2018, was nominated as ‘Best Foreign Film’ at the César Awards and was a box office hit with more than 400 thousand tickets sold in France.

He also directed the Hollywood film THE CONTRACTOR (2022), several episodes of HBO’s WESTWORLD (2018) and TOMMY (2014) with Ola Rapace, Moa Gammel and Lykke Li, for whom he directed the music video I FOLLOW RIVERS (80M+ views on YouTube).

His film debut, METROPIA (2009), premiered at Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. He also directed the documentaries GITMO: THE NEW RULES OF WAR (2005) and SACRIFICIO: WHO BETRAYED CHE GUEVARA (2001) with Erik Gandini.

His latest film BOY FROM HEAVEN premiered in the 2022 Cannes main competition and won Best Script.

Festivals

Official Competition, Cannes Film Festival 2025

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Tarik Saleh

URCHIN

Country: UK

Year: 2025

Runtime: 99 minutes

Genre: Drama

Director: Harris Dickinson

Screenplay: Harris Dickinson

Cinematography: Josée Deshaies

Cast: Frank Dillane, Harris Dickinson

Synopsis

The story follows Mike, a rough sleeper in London, trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Raw and absurd, the film is a story about the strange patterns that keep pulling us back.

Short Bio

Harris Dickinson is an actor, writer and director living in London. His passion for performing started at a young age attending Raw Academy. In March 2014, Harris performed Pauline McLynn’s ‘Angels’ at the National Theatre, Southbank. After being funded to write and direct his first short film at a young age, his portfolio continues to grow. In 2017, he played a young man coming of age in Brooklyn in the drama Beach Rats (2017), receiving significant critical acclaim.

Festivals

Best Actor (Un Certain Regard), Cannes Film Festival 2025
FIPRESCI Award (Un Certain Regard), Cannes Film Festival 2025

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Harris Dickinson

YES

Countries: France, Israel, Cyprus, Germany

Year: 2025

Runtime: 150 minutes

Genre: Drama

Director: Nadav Lapid

Screenplay: Nadav Lapid

Cinematography: Shai Goldman

Cast: Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis, Alexey Serebryakov

Synopsis

Israel, in the aftermath of October 7. Y., a jazz musician struggling to make ends meet, and his wife Jasmine, a dancer, sell their art, souls and bodies to the elite, and bring pleasure and consolation to a bleeding nation. Soon, Y. is given a mission of the highest importance: setting to music a new national anthem.

Short Bio

Born in 1975 in Tel Aviv, Nadav Lapid directed three short films, published a novel and worked as a literary critic and sports journalist, before joining the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation in 2007, where he wrote the screenplay of his first feature film, Policeman. Since, he has been awarded in the most prestigious festivals with the Jury Prize at Locarno in 2011 for Policeman, a selection at Cannes Critics’ Week for The Kindergarten Teacher, the Golden Bear of the Berlinale in 2019 for Synonyms and the Jury Prize of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 for Ahed’s Knee. Yes is his fifth feature film.

Festivals

Director’s Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2025

Director Nadav Lapid

JOANNA LUMLEY'S DANUBE: EUROPE'S MIGHTIEST RIVER – EPISODE 4

Poster for Joanna Lumley's Danube: Episode 4

JOANNA LUMLEY'S DANUBE: EUROPE'S MIGHTIEST RIVER – EPISODE 4

Country: United Kingdom

Year: 2025

Runtime: 46 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Director: Eric McFarland

Host: Joanna Lumley

Presented by: BBC Earth

Synopsis

Joanna Lumley's Danube adventure concludes in Romania, starting at the Iron Gates gorge, meeting witches, exploring the Delta's vast wildlife with pelicans and jackals, and finally ending at the Black Sea coast.

Director Eric McFarland

Feature film competition

HOLY ELECTRICITY

Georgia, Netherlands, 2024

Runtime: 95’

Genre: Drama

Director: Tato Kotetishvili

Screenplay: Tato Kotetishvili, Irine Jordania, Nutsa Tsikaridze

Cinematography: Tato Kotetishvili

Cast: Nikolo Ghviniashvili, Nika Gongadze

Synopsis

When young Gonga and his cousin Bart find a suitcase full of rusty crosses in a scrap yard, Bart gets the idea to turn them into neon crucifixes and sell them door-to-door to the inhabitants of Tbilisi. Their crusade through the suburbs of the city becomes a quest for love and friendship.

Short Bio

Tato Kotetishvili was born in the Georgian capital Tbilisi in 1987. Between 2008-2012 he studied at the Polish National Film School in Lodz (PWSFTViT). Currently Tato lives in Tbilisi and works as director and D.O.P. His short film Watermelon won Best Polish Short at the 2012 Krakow International Film Festival, Best Short at the 2012 Batumi International Film Festival, Best Short at the 2017 Tbilisi International Film Festival, and was nominated for Golden Horseman (Dresden FF). Ogasavara (2015), also a short, screened at IFFR.

Festivals

Locarno International Film Festival
International Film Festival Rotterdam

Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Director Tato Kotetishvili

INK WASH

Romania, Greece, Denmark, 2024

Runtime: 90’

Genre: Drama

Director: Sarra Tsorakidis

Screenplay: Sarra Tsorakidis, Ilinca Hărnuț

Cinematography: Radu Voinea

Cast: Ilinca Hărnuț, Kenneth M Christensen, Radouan Leflahi, Maria Popistașu, Ana Ularu

Synopsis

Seeking shelter in her work from the pain of a breakup, Lena, a painter turning 40, is commissioned to decorate a brutalist hotel nestled in the depths of the Romanian forest. There, where the Danube ends its course in seemingly miraculous springs, Lena’s moral views are confronted with an overwhelmingly corrupted community.

Short Bio

Sarra Tsorakidis was born in 1988 in Bucharest to a Romanian mother and a Greek father, both engineers. She graduated Film Directing in 2013 at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. Since graduating, Sarra has directed two shorts that have been well received internationally: ”Ivy” (2018) tells the story of a young woman trapped inside a very toxic friendship that ends up destroying her love life and ”Kaimos” (2020), about a middle-aged woman who returns to her native country after many years of living abroad. ”Ink Wash” is her debut feature.

Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival
San Francisco Film Festival
Adelaide Film Festival
Warsaw Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Mannheim/Heidelberg Festival

Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Director Sarra Tsorakidis

LOVEABLE

Norway, 2025

Runtime: 101’

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Lilja Ingolfsdottir

Screenplay: Lilja Ingolfsdottir

Cinematography: Øystein Mamen

Cast: Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Oddgeir Thune, Helga Guren

Synopsis

Maria (40) strives to balance parenthood and a demanding career while her second husband, Sigmund, frequently travels for work. As the strain of competing needs takes its toll, their marriage begins to unravel.

Despite Maria’s desperate efforts to salvage their relationship, Sigmund eventually informs her of his desire for a divorce, forcing her to confront her deepest fears. This revelation propels her into a torrent of grief, anger, and unconscious memories from her own past.

Maria eventually realizes that part of the key to understanding her situation lies in her relationship with her own mother and her internal self-image. Through a deeper confrontation with her mother, she finally connects with herself in a way she never knew she lacked. When she meets her husband for a conversation, the pain of abandonment is no longer the same.

About the Director

Lilja Ingolfsdottir trained at the London International Film School and the Prague Film School, FAMU. Her oeuvre, which spans two decades, includes several award-winning shorts such as:

"What I wish you had said to me; that you will never say"
"As a Flamingo"
"Neglect"
"Hong Kong"
"Show me your original face before your mother and father were born"
"What We Fear"

Her latest short, "The things I wish you had told me, but never will" (2021), premiered at the Grimstad Short Film Festival where it won the Norwegian Film Association award. "LOVEABLE" is her feature debut. Ingolfsdottir teaches screenwriting and directing at the Norwegian Film School. She has also developed several feature film scripts and worked as a script consultant.

Festivals

Official Selection – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2024
Special Jury Award
Best Actress Award
FIPRESCI Jury Award
Ecumenical Jury Award
Europa Cinemas Label Jury Award

Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Director Lilja Ingolfsdottir

ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHEN HEMME DIES

Turkey, 2024

Runtime: 82’

Genre: Drama

Director

Murat Fıratoğlu

Screenplay

Murat Fıratoğlu

Cinematography

Nedim Dedecan, Semih Yıldız, Abdurrahman Öncü

Cast

Sefer Fıratoğlu, Salih Taşçı, Güneş Sayın, Ali Barkın Birkan

Synopsis

Eyüp works relentlessly under the blazing sun during a tomato harvest in southeastern Turkey, driven by the urgent need to settle an impending debt. After a clash with his supervisor, he roams the city in search of a radical solution.

Short Bio

Murat Fıratoğlu was born on 07.09.1983 in Siverek. He studied law at Dicle University. Among his short films are ‘Straw Dust’ (2007), ‘The Edge of All Possibilities’ (2008), ‘Albatros Dreams’ (2008), and ‘The Photo of Kholoud Ahmed’ (2016), shortlisted for Sabancı Foundation Short Film Platform. This is his first feature film. He lives in Istanbul and works as a lawyer.

Festivals

Venice Film Festival
São Paulo International Film Festival
Stockholm International Film Festival

Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Director Murat Fıratoğlu

UNDER THE VOLCANO

Poland, 2024

Runtime: 105’

Genre: Drama

Director

Damian Kocur

Screenplay

Damian Kocur, Marta Konarzewska

Cinematography

Nikita Kuzmienko

Cast

Sofiia Berezovska, Roman Lutskyi, Anastasiia Karpienko, Fedir Pugachov, Mike Mensah

Synopsis

A blended Ukrainian family spends the last day of their vacation in Tenerife, Spain. When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine strands them on the island, they must contend with isolation, duty, fear... and each other.

Short Bio

Damian Kocur is a director, scriptwriter, and cinematographer, currently a PhD student at the Łódź Film School. He has directed several internationally awarded short films. His debut feature, BREAD AND SALT (2022), won the Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival 2022 (Orizzonti), and awards at Cairo IFF, Antalya IFF, Cottbus Film Festival, among others. His short film AS IT WAS was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2023.

Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival
Sao Paulo International Film Festival

Director Tato Kotetishvili

International short film competition

400 CASSETTES

Greece, 2024

Runtime: 14 minutes

Director: Thelyia Petraki

With: Panayiota Yiagli, Ellιε Galousi

Synopsis

After a lesson about cosmic archaeologists and a water-fight in the schoolyard, Elly steals Faye’s soul and Faye gives Elly a rare birthday present.

But then when the night falls,
under a sky full of stars,
a song from the past
will remind the girls that
nothing really lasts forever.

Director Thelyia Petraki

ALMOST CERTAINLY FALSE

Turkey, 2024

Runtime: 20 minutes

Director: Cansu Baydar

With: Rahaf Armanazi, İsa Karataş, Büşra Albayrak, Ferhat Akgün, Ubey Gül

Synopsis

Having fled the war in Syria, Hanna and her young brother Nader find themselves staying in a run-down neighbourhood of Istanbul. Hanna spends her days learning nail design in order to earn a living, while dreaming of finding a way to migrate to Europe. When she meets a Turkish guy, İbo, on a night out, she finds herself trying to balance her identity and desires with the needs of her young brother.

Director: Cansu Baydar

AMARELA

Brazil, 2024

Runtime: 15 minutes

Director: André Hayato Saito

With: Melissa Uehara, Ricardo Oshiro, Carolina Hamanaka

Synopsis

On the day of the World Cup final between Brazil and France, Erika Oguihara, a Japanese-Brazilian teenager who rejects her family traditions, experiences a violence that seems invisible and plunges into a painful sea of emotions.

Director: André Hayato Saito

CURA SANA

Spain, 2024

Runtime: 18 minutes

Director: Lucía G. Romero

With: Roser Rendon Ena, Rasvely Lissette Donaire Restituyo, Yaneys Cabrera Ramirez

Synopsis

JESSICA and ALMA, two sisters in a situation of domestic violence, will begin to treat each other with love instead of violence through one of their routine trips to the food stamp office on the night of San Juan, a Spanish holiday.

Director Lucía G. Romero

GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES

Cambodia, France, USA, 2025

Runtime: 19 minutes

Director: Chheangke

With: Bonrotanak Rith, Saroeun Nay

Synopsis

During her chaotic family’s Qingming visit, dead Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her Queer grandson is about to get engaged to a woman.

Director Chheangke

HIPPOPOTAMI

China, Hong Kong, 2025

Runtime: 13 minutes

Director: Lin Jianjie (JJ)

With: Zhang Zhiyong, Wang Zixi, Xu Ge, Wang Zhenhua

Synopsis

In the suburb of a northern Chinese city undergoing urbanization, a quirky girl who wants to see animals in the zoo is taken for a ride which will forever change her perspective on life.

Director: Lin Jianjie (JJ)

IMMACULATA

Germany, France, 2024

Runtime: 22 minutes

Director: Kim Lêa Sakkal

With: Devrim Lingnau, Deleila Piasko, Jan Bluthardt

Synopsis

Derya is pregnant, but she hasn't had sex. As we gaze into her life, a housekeeper in the height of a dry summer, signs of the supernatural and the divine emerge, prompting us to question the true origin of her mysterious pregnancy.

Director Kim Lêa Sakkal

JAMES

Guatemala, Mexico, 2024

Runtime: 20 minutes

Director: Andres Rodríguez

With: James Maldonado, Jose Poz, Erick Maldonado

Synopsis

The loneliness of the city feels immense for an indigenous teen like James, who is fighting for his happiness, innocence, and above all, to not feel abandoned in the urban vastness. Only now James is beginning to realize that building his own path means destroying those of others.

Director Andres Rodríguez

LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB

Indonesia, 2024

Runtime: 17 minutes

Director: Khozy Rizal

With: Jordan Omar, Muzakki Ramdhan, Mian Tiara

Synopsis

Set in 2008, Doddy, a 14 year old boy, tries to recreate an iconic scene of a zombie film with three of his best friends, using a handycam belonging to Anji, his sad and angry emo brother.

Director Khozy Rizal

THREE KEENINGS

UK, Ireland, USA, 2024

Runtime: 10 minutes

Director: Oliver McGoldrick

With: Seamus O’Hara, Sean Kearns, Caitriona Hinds

Synopsis

Ian is a struggling actor who finds himself in the unconventional role of a professional mourner. As he tours the Northern Irish countryside, his practised mask of apathy begins to slip amongst the humour and heartache of the local funeral circuit.

Director Oliver McGoldrick

TREES PAINTED IN TAR

Denmark, 2024

Runtime: 14 minutes

Director: Casper Rudolf

With: Magnus Juhl Andersen, Søren Malling

Synopsis

A hunting trip turns into a nightmare, when a teenage boy has to choose between his father's acceptance or his own integrity.

Director Casper Rudolf

WASSUPKAYLEE

France, USA, 2025

Runtime: 18 minutes

Director: Casper Rudolf

With: Devin Freeman France, Taj Cross, Annie Schwartz

Synopsis

Kaylee Hord, a 17-year-old prank video influencer, is the newest member of a popular TikTok content house where she struggles to fit in and pay the rent. But when a new and intense friendship offers the chance of viral fame, Kaylee learns how far she'll go to belong.

Director Casper Rudolf

OFF SECTION

DRACULA

Romania, Austria, Luxembourg, 2025

Runtime: 170 minutes

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director & Screenwriter: Radu Jude

Cinematography: Marius Panduru RSC

Cast: Adonis Tanța, Gabriel Spahiu, Oana Maria Zaharia, Andrada Balea, Ilinca Manolache, Șerban Pavlu

Synopsis

A Dracula film made in Transylvania. What does it contain? A vampire hunt. Zombies & Dracula crashing a strike. A science-fiction story about Vlad the Impaler coming back. An adaptation of the first Romanian vampire novella. A love story. A montage film reusing a classic vampire film. A vulgar folktale. A.I.-generated kitsch stories. And many delights in a film dealing with this cinema myth.

Director's Short Bio

Radu Jude is a Romanian director and screenwriter. His feature debut, The Happiest Girl in the World (2009), was selected for over 50 international film festivals. He went on to direct critically acclaimed films such as Everybody in Our Family (2012), Aferim! (2015), Scarred Hearts (2016), I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (2018), and Uppercase Print (2020), all of which received numerous awards worldwide.

In 2021, his film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World received the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2023. His latest feature, Kontinental ’25, a low-budget independent production, was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2025 Berlinale.

Festivals

Locarno International Film Festival

Director Radu Jude

TOOTH AND NAIL

Romania, Slovenia, 2025

Runtime: 85 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Directed by: Mihai Gavril Dragolea & Radu Mocanu

Synopsis

Two filmmakers follow an entrepreneur turned eco-activist as he exposes Romania’s timber mafia. Their journey takes a dramatic turn when, in the middle of a forest, the three are attacked by a group of 12 angry men. The cameras are destroyed, and all footage is lost. Faced with this harsh reality, each of them tries to manage the situation as best they can, confronting their own doubts and limitations.

Directors' Short Bios

Mihai Gavril Dragolea (Romania, 1989) specialises in documentary and hybrid fiction filmmaking. His films focus on alternative and peripheral humans or other types of sentient beings, on which subject he is also doing a Ph.D. Mihai’s documentaries have been shown in festivals in Europe and distributed in more than 15 countries. He lectures on Documentary Practice at the Faculty of Theater and Film of Babeș-Bolyai University. Mihai is also active in ecological and animal protection work.

Radu Constantin Mocanu graduated in journalism at Lucian Blaga University in 2005. He got a job working at a TV station and later moved to Paris to study cinema at École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle, where he earned a degree in 2009. Returning to Romania, he began working on his debut feature documentary: The Golden Robot (2015). Radu currently works as an independent documentary filmmaker.

Festivals

Transilvania International Film Festival 2025
One World Romania 2025

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Mihai Gavril Dragolea and Radu Mocanu

TRAFFIC

Romania, Belgium, Netherlands, 2024

Runtime: 126 minutes

Genre: Drama

Director: Teodora Ana Mihai

Screenplay: Cristian Mungiu

Cinematography: Marius Panduru RSC

Cast: Anamaria Vartolomei, Ionuț Niculae, Rareș Andrici

Synopsis

Ginel and Natalia go to work in the Netherlands. There they reunite with their fellow countrymen Iță and Adrian, boys' boys who live off what their girlfriends earn and also little trifles. When Natalia is assaulted in a club, Iță convinces Ginel that it's their right to get revenge. Fed up with being treated like second-class citizens, the three plot a hit. In less than two minutes, they steal paintings worth more than 20 million euros. But then things get complicated.
Inspired by a true story.

Director's Short Bio

Teodora Ana Mihai is a Romanian-born Belgian filmmaker known for her distinctive blend of social relevance and audiovisual poetry. Her first feature film, La Civil, awarded the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2021, is a Belgium-Romania-Mexico co-production that deals with the subject of Mexican gangs kidnapping good-natured children.

Festivals

Warsaw Film Festival (2024) – GRAND PRIX
Tokyo Film Festival (2024) – Best Actress: Anamaria Vartolomei
Rotterdam International Film Festival – selected in the competition
Oostende Film Festival – selected in the competition

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Teodora Ana Mihai

KONTINENTAL’ 25

Romania, 2025

Runtime: 109 minutes

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director & Screenwriter: Radu Jude

Cinematography: Marius Panduru RSC

Cast: Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanța, Șerban Pavlu

Synopsis

Orsolya, a bailiff in Cluj, must evict a homeless man from the basement of a building. An unexpected event triggers a moral crisis that Orsolya tries to navigate as best as she can.

Director's Short Bio

In 2021, his film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World received the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2023. His latest feature, Kontinental ’25, a low-budget independent production, was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2025 Berlinale.

Festivals

Berlinale 2025 – Silver Bear for Best Screenplay

Trailer

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Director Radu Jude

TATA

Romania, Germany, Netherlands, 2024

Runtime: 82 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Directed by: Lina Vdovîi & Radu Ciorniciuc

Synopsis

A journalist from Moldova, estranged from her father who emigrated to Italy years ago, discovers that he has become a victim of workplace abuse. As she decides to help him expose his employer and seek legal protection, old wounds are reopened and a parallel journey begins, one through a present and past marked by violence.

Directors' Short Bios

Lina Vdovîi wrote the feature-length documentary ACASĂ, MY HOME (2020), winner of the Best Documentary Award at the 2021 Gopo Awards and numerous other prizes. Originally from Moldova, she lives in Romania and has extensive experience in investigative and narrative journalism. She has been nominated for the European Press Prize and began her TV career with German public broadcaster ZDF. TATA marks her directorial debut in feature-length documentary filmmaking.

Radu Ciorniciuc is a director, cinematographer, and investigative journalist. His debut feature ACASĂ, MY HOME was awarded Best Cinematography at Sundance (2020) and received numerous other awards across Europe. He is a co-founder of Casa Jurnalistului and has contributed to The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and Channel 4 News, focusing on human rights, the environment, and animal welfare.

Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival (2024)

Director Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc

THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD

Romania, 2024

Runtime: 105’

Genre: Drama

Director: Emanuel Pârvu

Screenplay: Emanuel Pârvu

Cinematography: Silviu Stavilă

Cast: Bogdan Dumitrache, Laura Vasiliu, Ciprian Chiujdea, Ingrid Micu Berescu, Valeriu Andriuță, Adrian Titieni, Richard Bovnoczki, Alina Berzunțeanu, Vlad Brumaru

Synopsis

Adi is a 17-year-old teenager from a village in the Danube Delta who, through his parents' efforts, studies in Tulcea. Returning home for the summer vacation, Adi enjoys being with his family and his best friend, Ilinca. When the family is violently confronted with a truth they can neither understand nor accept, the unconditional love Adi should receive from his parents suddenly disappears, leaving Adi with only one solution.

Festivals

Cannes Film Festival, Official Selection Competition – Queer Palm 2024
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2024

Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Director Emanuel Pârvu

BACK TO SHORTS

BETTER THIS WAY

Year: 2024

Runtime: 14 minutes

Director: Emanuel Pârvu

Cast: Alexandre Noel, Dragoș Olaru, Irina Săulescu

Synopsis

Adi, a 16-year-old teenager from a Romanian village, is in the doctor’s office with his parents and the police chief. The wounds on his body show that he has been beaten. In their attempts to discover who is responsible for this, the policeman learns that the boy was beaten because of his sexual orientation and something else will affect the boy’s life.

regia Emanuel Pârvu

THE CATFISH

Year: 2024

Runtime: 20 minutes

Director: Sebastian Mihăilescu

With: Cătălina Romaneț, Ana Dumitrașcu, Dan Ursu

Synopsis

On the set of a low-budget indie SF production, the actress revolts against the director when she is told to swim in contaminated water.

regia Sebastian Mihăilescu

THREE

Year: 2024

Runtime: 14 minutes

Director: Iulia Rugină

With: Nicoleta Lefter, Cristian Popa, Ileana Mihnea

Synopsis

Matilda is six and her parents have decided to no longer live together. She might get used to it in time, but tonight is difficult for all three of them. It’s Christmas Eve and Santa is about to come. With a last minute plan and a last minute letter for the elves, Matilda is down for a complicated night.

regia Iulia Rugină