Béla Tarr, one of Europe's most important filmmakers, has arrived in Cluj-Napoca, where he will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) Awards Gala. Until then, audiences will have the chance to meet him at the cinema and attend a special masterclass. Dozens of other guests are also expected in Cluj for the final days of TIFF. Among them: Portuguese actress Maria de Medeiros, director Andrei Ujică, and the team behind Sirât (dir. Oliver Laxe), winner of a prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival—Spanish actress Jade Oukid and co-producer and costume designer Nadia Acimi.
The first chance to meet Béla Tarr will be on Wednesday, June 18, at Cinema Florin Piersic, during the screening of his debut film, Family Nest (1979). On Thursday, the program continues with a Q&A after Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) at the Military Circle. On Friday, Béla Tarr will attend screenings of The Turin Horse (2011) at Cinema ARTA, and Autumn Almanac (1984) at Sapientia University.
Tickets are available at tiff.eventbook.ro.
A must-see event for all film lovers and admirers of his work is the masterclass he will give on Saturday, June 21, at 10:30 AM. The discussion will be moderated by film critic Andrei Rus, and admission is free. All TIFF masterclasses take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
Also in Cluj is documentary filmmaker Andrei Ujică, who will host a masterclass on Friday at 10:30 AM. Audiences are also invited to a special screening of his latest film, TWST – Things We Said Today, taking place Saturday at Cinema Victoria.
Another highly anticipated guest is Portuguese actress Maria de Medeiros, best known to wider audiences for her iconic role in Pulp Fiction (dir. Quentin Tarantino). Her latest film, A Portuguese Villa (Una Quinta Portuguesa, dir. Avelina Prat, 2025), will be shown at TIFF.24 in a special screening. She will also hold a masterclass on Saturday at 12:00 PM, with free admission.
Several teams behind this year’s newest Romanian productions are also expected at the festival, including those of Kontinental ‘25 (dir. Radu Jude), The Spruce Forest (dir. Tudor Giurgiu), Comatogen (dir. Igor Cobileanski), and Dad (dir. Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc). Other major names from the Romanian film industry present at TIFF include producer Ada Solomon, director Bogdan Mureșanu, actress Emilia Dobrin, and actor Gabriel Spahiu. Audiences will have the chance to meet many of them at the TIFF Talk and InspiraTIFF evening events.
The Closing Gala will take place on Saturday evening, when the festival’s awards will be presented. TIFF.24 will end in spectacular fashion on Sunday with the Amadeus LIVE concert and a screening of Sirât (dir. Oliver Laxe), winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.