Estonian cinema will take center stage at the 24th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) in the Focus Estonia program, presenting a curated selection featuring both recent releases and rediscovered classics, screened in restored versions.

Among the films to be screened is Moonika Siimets' The Black Hole (2024), a dark sci-fi comedy inspired by short stories of Estonian writers. The film follows a cast of eccentric characters whose mundane lives are thrown into chaos by aliens or a giant spider.

As part of the Weekend at the Castle event, Rainer Sarnet's Invisible Fight (2023) will be screened at Bonțida Castle. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. Sarnet, also honored in the 3x3 section, will be in attendance at TIFF to present two additional titles: The Idiot (2011) and November (2017).

The festival public can also see Alien or: Valdis' Escape in 11 Chapters (2006), Rasmus Merivoo's student short about a deadbeat who forgets all the things he loved, and its long-awaited sequel Alien 2 or: The Return of Valdis in 17 Chapters (2024), where the protagonist discovers that his hometown is no longer what it once was.

Leida Laius & Arvo Iho's Smile at Last, a landmark in Estonian cinema, will be screened at TIFF in a restored version. The film tells the story of a 16-year-old girl forced to survive in a harsh orphanage after the death of her mother and her father's abandonment. Starkly naturalistic and featuring mostly non-professional actors, the film premiered at the 1985 Berlin Film Festival, where it won the UNICEF Award.

Arvo Kruusement's A Woman Heats the Sauna (1979) will be screened as part of a double bill exploring sauna culture in Estonia, alongside Anna Hints & Tushar Prakash's short Sauna Day, "a kind of masculine sequel" to the multi-awarded documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, previously shown at TIFF.22.

Also on the list of Estonian films screened is Rain Tolk and Andres Maimik's Aurora, following the daughter of a religious leader as she begins an extramarital affair that threatens her relationship.

Two debut films add to the program of Estonian cinema screenings: Veiko Õunpuu's Autumn Ball (2007), which won the Orizzonti award at the Venice Film Festival and also a cinematography award at TIFF in 2008, and Helen Takkin's Life and Love.

The festival's Coming Up Next section, dedicated to series lovers, features the first two episodes of My Dear Mother, directed by Doris Tääker. It is a Nordic noir-style thriller about a woman whose life spirals out of control after her mother's death.

This year's TIFF takes place between June 13 and June 22 in Cluj.

(Photo: still from Autumn Ball, courtesy of TIFF)

simona@romania-insider.com