Actress Ornella Muti, Director Ben Wheatley and Actor Sam Riley, Special Guests at Transilvania IFF.25
A legend of Italian cinema, Ornella Muti is coming to Cluj-Napoca, where she will be celebrated at the 25th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (June 12–21, 2026). The actress will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. With a magnetic screen presence that has captivated generations of audiences, Ornella Muti has become one of the iconic figures of international cinema.
Muti is only one of the stars set to walk the festival’s red carpet. Among the special guests of this anniversary edition are also two prominent figures of British cinema: director Ben Wheatley, known for his genre-bending films that mix horror with dark satire, and actor Sam Riley, whose talent has earned him a series of memorable roles.
Ornella Muti, an Icon of Italian Cinema
Director Damiano Damiani discovered her while she was working as a model and cast her in La moglie più bella (1970), when she was only 14 years old. It marked the beginning of a career spanning more than five decades.
Central to her filmography is her collaboration with director Marco Ferreri, which became one of the most compelling encounters between an iconic actress and one of European cinema’s radical auteurs. In the films they made together (L'ultima donna, Storie di ordinaria follia, and Il futuro è donna), Ferreri uses Muti’s angelic image to create female characters who unsettle traditional relationships and challenge masculine fragility. These three films were screened at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival.
Ornella Muti gained recognition through both auteur cinema—working with directors such as Ettore Scola, Francesco Rosi, Woody Allen, Lucas Belvaux, Mike Figgis, and John Landis—and hugely popular Italian comedies, gradually building a filmography that crosses very different styles and cinematic traditions.
In Italy, her collaborations with Adriano Celentano in Il bisbetico domato and Innamorato pazzo remain among the most beloved titles of the 1980s, while films such as Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Oscar, and To Rome with Love introduced her to international audiences.
For many viewers, Ornella Muti also remains closely associated with the spectacular universe of the sci-fi classic Flash Gordon, where she plays the seductive Princess Aura. Released in 1980 and later becoming a cult film thanks to its extravagant aesthetic, Queen soundtrack, and memorable cast, the film established her international fame.
Arthouse audiences also know her from The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part I, Peter Greenaway’s multimedia project, which competed at Cannes in 2003. Her most recent appearance is in Roma Elastica (dir. Bertrand Mandico), which has just premiered out of competition at the latest Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screenings section.
Recently, Sean Baker played an important role in introducing Ornella Muti to a new generation of cinephiles. The American director (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Anora), known for his interest in characters living on society’s margins and for his independent cinema with European sensibilities, supported the release of the restored Ornella Muti 1970s Collection on Blu-ray and DVD, dedicated to some of the actress’s early films, including Dino Risi’s Primo amore.
“I’m beyond thrilled to sit down with the legendary Ornella Muti, a cinema icon whose work has inspired me for years. Her screen presence is electrifying, and I can’t wait to discover the stories behind her extraordinary career.”
He made this statement before interviewing her for the collection.
Audiences will have the opportunity to meet her at a masterclass taking place on Saturday, June 20, as well as at the special screening of Swann in Love (Un amour de Swann, dir. Volker Schlöndorff), in which she stars alongside Jeremy Irons, Alain Delon, and Fanny Ardant.
Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Marcel Proust follows the obsessive relationship between Charles Swann and Odette de Crécy in a sophisticated yet fragile world inspired by late 19th-century French aristocracy.
The Lifetime Achievement Award at Transilvania IFF.25 is presented by Rețeaua de sănătate Regina Maria.
Ben Wheatley and Sam Riley, Representatives of British Cinema
Ben Wheatley is one of the most original and unpredictable British directors of his generation.
His films—from the psychological thriller Kill List (2011) to the dystopian High-Rise (2015), from the dark comedy Sightseers (2012) to the blockbuster Meg 2: The Trench (2023)—refuse to fit into a single genre, blending horror with satire, violence with absurd humour, and conventional storytelling with pure experimentation.
Wheatley is a filmmaker of contrasts: an auteur capable of moving from arthouse productions to studio films without losing his distinctive voice.
With his latest film, screening at Transilvania IFF.25, Wheatley returns to where he feels most at home: the controlled chaos of independent filmmaking made on minimal budgets, with improvised cameras and limitless imagination.
Bulk is both a sci-fi thriller and a love letter to cinema itself—a film not to be missed on the big screen. Starring Sam Riley and Romanian-born actress Alexandra Maria Lara.
Sam Riley was the lead singer of a rock band before turning to acting, an unconventional path that has shaped his entire career.
The role that brought him international recognition was his portrayal of Ian Curtis, the legendary frontman of Joy Division, in Control (dir. Anton Corbijn, 2007), which earned him numerous awards, including a British Independent Film Award and a BAFTA Rising Star nomination.
It was also on that film set that he met his future wife, actress Alexandra Maria Lara.
Since then, Riley has built an impressive career, moving from the adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road (dir. Walter Salles, 2012) to playing Diaval in Disney blockbuster Maleficent (dir. Robert Stromberg, 2014) alongside Angelina Jolie, and later taking on the role of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (dir. Burr Steers, 2016).
Among his most recent roles is his performance in Islands (dir. Jan-Ole Gerster, 2025), which screened at last year’s Transilvania IFF and was subsequently released in Romanian cinemas.
Audiences will have the opportunity to meet Ben Wheatley and Sam Riley at the screening of Bulk.
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The Transilvania International Film Festival is organized by the Romanian Film Promotion Association and the Transilvania Film Festival Association.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture, National Center of Cinematography, Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council, Romanian Cultural Institute, Dacin Sara, UCIN, Department for Interethnic Relations, Florești City Hall, Creative Europe – MEDIA
Under the aegis of: UNESCO City of Film
Presented by: Banca Transilvania
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