Twelve productions from all over the world will compete for the Transilvania Trophy at this year's edition of Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF).

The competition, open to first or second-feature directors, will showcase a selection of recent films that local audiences can see for the first time in the country in Cluj-Napoca, between June 17 and June 26.

The two Romanian films in the competition are Octav Chelaru's Balaur/ A Higher Law, which looks at the consequences of the affair between a young religion teacher and her underage student, and Emanuel Pârvu's Marocco/ Mikado, where the story follows the unravelling of a minor incident to devastating effects. 

Director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, awarded for best direction at the 2017 edition of the festival, returns to the competition with Beautiful Beings. Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk enters the competition with Pamfir, a film that has been selected for the Cannes Quinzaine des Réalisateurs this year.

Vincent Maël Cardona's Magnetic Beats, the recent winner of a César award and Franziska Stünkel's The Last Execution have also been included in the competition, as was Alejandro Loayza Grisi's Utama, the winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance this year.

The competition also includes László Csuja and Anna Nemes's Gentle, Monia Chokri's Babysitter, Julien Hilmoine's The Night Belongs to Lovers, Lado Kvataniya's debut The Execution, and Dovile Sarutyte's first feature Feature Film about Life.

The festival also said it will hand out this year's Excellence Award to actress Maia Morgenstern, a "symbol of local cinema and stage, applauded by generations."

(Photo: still from Alejandro Loayza Grisi's Utama, courtesy of TIFF)

simona@romania-insider.com