The Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF) is back this year with its 13th edition, taking place from September 26th to October 1st. The festival will present an impressive selection of innovative, award-winning films, united under the theme “Against all odds”.

“Every year at BIEFF, we aim to offer our audience a selection of films that stand out both in quality and in the uniqueness of the artistic visions they convey. […] This year, reaching the 13th edition, we asked ourselves – on a slightly playful note – how can superstitions, rituals, myths, and spiritual beliefs shape the imaginary of our globalised and hyper-digitised world?” says Oana Ghera, artistic director of BIEFF.

Opening the festival is Radu Jude’s latest effort Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, a film about work, exploitation, fatigue, death, and the production of the image in our age.

International Feature Film Competition

As in previous years, the section showcases films that have been highly acclaimed by critics and juries at prestigious festivals. The seven contenders for the Grand Prize of BIEFF.13 are: De Facto (dir. Selma Doborac), Home Invasion (dir. Graeme Arnfield), The Human Surge 3 (dir. Eduardo Williams), The Face of the Jellyfish (dir. Melisa Liebenthal), La Palisiada (dir. Philip Sotnychenko), Monisme (dir. Riar Rizaldi), The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Who Lived for Twenty and Eight Years All Alone On an Inhabited Island and Said It Was His (dir. Benjamin Deboosere).

The International Competition Jury consists of Nuria Cubas (co-founder and director of the FILMADRID International Festival), Daniella Shreir (founder and co-editor of film journal Another Gaze), and Julian Ross (co-programmer of Doc Fortnight 2023 and 2024 at The Museum of Modern Art – MoMA, and film program advisor at IDFA).

International Short Film Competition

Designed as a panorama of contemporary cinema prospects, the section hosts 40 short films from 22 countries. The competition is divided into seven curated programs that address current topics and encourage reflections on the impact of images on our perception.

“This year, we have noticed a growing concern for how cinema, through the images and ideas about the world it circulates, can contribute to perpetuating unequal power dynamics, but also for its potential to promote emancipatory discourses,” stated Oana Ghera.

Retrospective: Pedro Costa

Another highlight of BIEFF.13 is the first-ever auteur retrospective in the festival’s history, dedicated to the renowned Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa, whose work opens new directions in the digital era of the image.

The retrospective provides the audience with a unique opportunity to discover the oeuvre of the slow-cinema filmmaker and understand his impact on the world of film, but also to engage with him during a masterclass and the Q&A sessions following the screenings.

His latest project, As Filhas do Fogo (The Daughters of Fire), will be shown in national premiere on September 27, at 6 PM, at the Elvire Popesco Cinema. The screening will be followed by the masterclass.

Cinema as a dream: A partnership with the Berlinale Forum Expanded

BIEFF expands its horizons through an exciting collaboration with Berlinale Forum Expanded, presenting Romanian audiences with short films curated by Angelika Ramlow and Uli Ziemons in a program titled “Do Movies Dream of Electric Sheep?”, which brings together works that share an affinity with dreams and dream logic and that highlight the medium’s ability to evoke dreams and nightmares.

Closing the festival is Eureka, directed by Lisandro Alonso and starring Viggo Mortensen. The film examines the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with the narrative unfolding in four parts connected by the flight of a crane that travels through time and space, revealing different places and eras.

Panel – In Short: Navigating The Short Film Circuit

Film students and professionals are invited on September 30, at 11 AM at the Arthub Garden, to “In Short: Navigating The Short Film Circuit”, a panel focused on strategies for promoting and distributing short films and audiovisual projects at national and international level.

The event will be moderated by Oana Ghera, with guests including Gabrielė Cegialytė (director of the Vilnius International Short Film Festival), Ilinka Mihăilescu (representative of the Romanian Film Center), Eddie Bertozzi (head of Pardi di domani Selection Committee and advisor for the Competitive Sections of the Locarno Film Festival), Simone Bardoni (president and artistic director of the Concorto Film Festival, Italy), and Florian Fernandez (coordinator of the various industry initiatives elaborated as part of the Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry, a four-day forum dedicated to short films organised by the Festival de Cannes).

National Short Film Competition & Romanian Experimental Film Retrospective

Eleven shorts are competing for the Best Romanian Film Award this year. The National Competition is divided into two sections, both screening at the Eforie Cinematheque on September 29 and September 30.

“This selection of eleven films, belonging to filmmakers from two generations, does not seem to have much in common – sometimes it’s the subject, other times a form, but not a shared way of understanding cinema. Which is wonderful: we may not have a New Wave, but we will have a lot of experimental cinema, more and even more. And who is to say that the lack of tradition cannot also become a tradition in itself?” says Călin Boto, associate curator.

The festival program is completed by Visual Consciousness: Romanian Experimental Film Retrospective, a section showcasing emblematic works of Romanian avant-garde cinema from the last five decades. The screening will take place on October 1, at 4:00 PM, at the Eforie Cinematheque.

Book Launch: “Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude” by Andrei Gorzo and Veronica Lazăr

BIEFF.13 hosts the official launch of the essay collection by Andrei Gorzo and Veronica Lazăr about Radu Jude’s cinema. The event takes place on September 29 and will include a talk between Veronica Lazăr and the festival’s associate curators, Flavia Dima and Călin Boto.

For more details, visit the BIEFF website and Facebook page. Tickets are available here.

Melissa Antonescu

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.