Two prominent figures of Romanian cinema will be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 24th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (June 13–22, 2025): actress Emilia Dobrin and film critic Valerian Sava.
Tickets and passes for TIFF.24 are available online at tiff.eventbook.ro.
Valerian Sava, one of the most influential and enduring Romanian film critics, is the author of numerous landmark texts, including A Critical History of Contemporary Romanian Cinema, with a Retrospective from the Beginning (Meridiane Publishing, 1999) and the three-volume collection A Subjective History of the Cinematic Transition: The Fourth Wave, Mediocrate Restoration and the Rebirth of Romanian Cinema (Paralela 45 Publishing, 2011–2013).
In 1963, under the direction of Victor Iliu, Sava became a founding editor of Cinema magazine. During the 1970s and ’80s, he was the secretary of the Critics’ Section and co-organizer of the Critics’ Club of the Romanian Filmmakers’ Association, then headed by Ion Popescu Gopo. In the early 1990s, he was an associate lecturer at the National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC). He received the Romanian Filmmakers’ Association Award for Film Criticism in 1978.
Now at 90 years old, Valerian Sava remains tirelessly active and sharp, fully embracing the digital space, where he continues to post incisive commentary with enviable vigor. He remains a constant presence at major Romanian film events, including TIFF, which he has attended every year since its inception. His long-standing connection with the festival has inspired a series of books published in TIFF Cinefil Collection by Școala Ardeleană Publishing, now in its fourth volume: Post/Neo-history of Romanian Cinema (and Beyond) in Critical Mono-Dialogues (via Facebook & Extra-FB).
At the 2021 launch of the first volume, TIFF Artistic Director Mihai Chirilov wrote:
“Valerian Sava takes a stand. Sometimes with bite, especially when tilting at windmills doesn’t allow for a fair fight. Like any true critic, he stands by his words—even when swimming against the tide. He is firm but never dogmatic, and writes with the verve of a rebellious Facebook youth, but without the recklessness. His insights into the New Romanian Cinema are sharp and deeply articulated, his style uniquely complex and instantly recognizable, with a strong appetite for meaningful polemic—at a time when most arguments are stripped of substance.”