The winners of the 22nd Transilvania International Film Festival

18 June, 2023

The Closing Gala of the 22nd edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival took place on Saturday, June 17, at the “Lucian Blaga” National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca. Alongside this year’s winners, special guests such as Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, American director Oliver Stone, and Mexican director Michel Franco took the stage.

The theme around which the festival revolved in 2023 was the love for film, meant as a reminder that good movies stay with us forever. 22 feature films competed in the two international competitions, 12 of them in the Official Competition, and 10 in the What’s Up, Doc? competition, dedicated to documentaries.

Actor, director, cartoonist, and writer Horațiu Mălăele was honoured with the Excellency Award.

The Transilvania Trophy went to Like a Fish on the Moon by Dornaz Hajiha.

Here are the winners of TIFF.22:

Transilvania Trophy

Like a Fish on the Moon (dir. Dornaz Hajiha)

Best Directing Award

Charcoal (dir. Carolina Markowicz)

Special Jury Award

Family Time (dir. Tia Kouvo)

Best Performance Award

Nacho Quesada (The Barbarians)

Sepidar Tari (Like A Fish On The Moon)

Special mention of the jury

Banger (dir. Adam Sedlak)

Audience Award

Carbon (r. Ion Borș)

Romanian Days: Best feature film

Between Revolutions (dir. Vlad Petri)

Romanian Days Award for Best Debut

Day of the Tiger (dir. Andrei Tănase)

Romanian Days Special Mention

Eagles from Țaga (dir. Iulian Manuel Ghervas, Adina Popescu)

Romanian Days Award for Best Short Film

Our Summer Break (dir. Lara Ionescu)

Romanian Days Special Mention, Short Film

Whole Family (dir. Alexandra Diaconu)

Romanian Days Special Mention, Short Film

Berliner Kindl (dir. Lucia Chicos)

“What’s up, Doc?” Section Award

Anhell69 (dir. Theo Montoya)

Special Mention of “What’s up, Doc?” Jury

100 Seasons (dir. Giovanni Bucchieri)

The Audience Award for the most popular Romanian film

Freedom (dir. Tudor Giurgiu)

FIPRESCI Award

Between Revolutions (dir. Vlad Petri)

Alex Leo Șerban Scholarship

The Project Revizia de film: Mihai Păun, Denisa Onisie, Adrian Comănescu, Victor Mihăilescu, Mirel Hagiu

Alex Leo Șerban Scholarship Special Mention

Actor Sergiu Smerea (A Higher Law)

Alex Leo Șerban Scholarship Special Mention

Rara Avis (dir. Octav Chelaru)

The Young Francophone Jury Prize

Noémie dit oui (dir. Geneviève Albert)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Geoffrey Rush

Lifetime Achievement Award

Oliver Stone

Excellency Award

Horațiu Mălăele



Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.