The Transilvania International Film Festival, or TIFF, is set to return to Timișoara, western Romania, from September 17 to 20, at Cinema Timiș, Cinema Studio, FABER and Capitol Summer Garden. 

The event will bring award-winning films from major international festivals, Romanian premieres, a cine-concert, a special section dedicated to French filmmaker Jacques Tati, as well as a series of workshops, exhibitions and related events.

TIFF Timișoara begins at Cinema Timiș, with 3 Days in September / 3 Zile în septembrie, a comedy directed by Tudor Giurgiu, which also opened the edition in Cluj-Napoca, before an audience of more than 3,500 spectators. The film will be preceded by the exclusive screening of a fragment from NADIA, the work-in-progress documentary about the life and career of the world’s most important gymnast. 3 Days in September will enter cinemas across Romania starting September 18.

The program also brings to Timișoara the major TIFF winners: Lionel (dir. Carlos Saiz, 2025), awarded the Transilvania Trophy for the best film in the international competition, a tender exploration of unspoken memories and uncomfortable realities within a Spanish family, and Feels Like Home / Aici mă simt acasă (dir. Gábor Holtai, 2025), awarded the Audience Award, a psychological thriller about power and social complicity, which became the most-watched Hungarian film of 2026.

This Is Not Your Place / Nu e locul tău aici (dir. Florin Șerban, 2026), the recent winner of the Golden Leopard for Best Film in the International Competition of the Locarno Film Festival, will be screened in the country for the first time at TIFF Timișoara. The film tells the story of a respected doctor who discovers that his son has committed a crime and offers a bleak analysis of racism directed against Romania’s Roma community.

The selection also includes titles awarded at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The audience will be able to see for the first time: 

• Grand Prix winner – Minotaur (dir. Andrei Zviaghințev, 2026), a political drama whose action takes place right at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine; 
• Coward / Lașul (dir. Lukas Dhont, 2026), a queer story set against the backdrop of the First World War, which brought the Best Actor award to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne; 
• Fatherland / Patria (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski, 2026), a historical drama awarded the Best Director prize, with Sandra Hüller playing the daughter of writer Thomas Mann; 
• Bitter Christmas / Crăciun amar, the latest film by Pedro Almodovar.

The third edition of the festival celebrates Marilyn Monroe’s centenary with a screening of the classic hit Some Like It Hot and also includes a FOCUS dedicated to French director Jacques Tati, with three of his landmark films, all presented in recently restored copies: the comedy that introduced one of cinema’s most beloved comic characters – Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Playtime (1967), unanimously regarded as Tati’s masterpiece.

Film lovers are also expected at the cine-concert performed by GOLAN, which will perform live the original soundtrack composed for the film Meanders, an avant-garde gem from 1966, directed by Mircea Săucan. 

The TIFF Timișoara program will be completed by the TIFF Talks series, exhibitions and workshops dedicated both to industry professionals and children. 

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: press release)