Romania’s TAIFAS Film Festival brings Balkan cinema, music and culture to Timisoara

The fourth edition of the TAIFAS Balkan film and culture festival is set to bring films awarded at Cannes, Berlinale, and Sundance, a retrospective dedicated to director Nae Caranfil, and the show “Maria Tănase. A Story” to Timisoara, western Romania.

The festival will take place between October 12 and 18. During the seven days of the festival, the program brings together feature films, eight of them in national premiere, two short film programs curated by young people, meetings with directors and actors, film and literature residencies at Cinema Studio 14, as well as shows and events in several venues across the city.

The opening of TAIFAS takes place on Monday, October 12, at 19:30, at Cinema Timiș, with "Maria Tănase. A Story," a production of the Constanța State Theater directed by Carmen Lidia Vidu. Mirela Pană plays Maria Tănase, accompanied on piano by George Călin, in a show that brings biography, memory and music into dialogue.

After the show, director Carmen Lidia Vidu and actress Mirela Pană will sit down for a chat with Ruxandra Păduraru, a cultural anthropologist who also serves as the festival’s host.

The film program opens on Tuesday, October 13, with "The Birthday Party," directed by Miguel Ángel Jiménez, an imaginary biography of tycoon Aristotle Onassis presented in premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, starring Hollywood star Willem Dafoe.

Among the films in this edition are "Dreamed Adventure," by Valeska Grisebach, winner this year of the Jury Prize at Cannes, "Nina Roza," by Geneviève Dulude-de Celles, awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at Berlinale 2026, as well as two titles awarded at this year’s Sundance festival, namely "Shame and Money" by Visar Morina and "Hold Onto Me" by Myrsini Aristidou, this year’s Cyprus entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The selection made by artistic director Cătălin Olaru also includes two films from the 2026 edition of the Karlovy Vary festival, namely "Small-Time Crooks," by Mate Ugrin, awarded the FIPRESCI Prize, and "Almost a Whole Person," by Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis, awarded for direction in the Proxima section.

The TAIFAS 2026 selection is completed by one of the star titles from the Sarajevo Film Festival, namely "17," by Kosara Mitić, which centers on the friendship of two teenage girls confronted with sexual violence and was awarded the Audience Award and the Best Actress award.

The screenings will be accompanied by conversations with festival guests. The public will meet directors Nikola Ležaić, Mate Ugrin and Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis, as well as actresses Yana Radeva and Flomaria Papadaki.

Similarly, the screening of "Shame and Money," scheduled for the closing of the festival, will also be followed by a Zoom discussion with director Visar Morina.