Andrei Ujică will receive the Excellence Award at TIFF.24

Photo: Șerban Mestecăneanu

Filmmaker Andrei Ujică, the author of several landmark works of documentary cinema, will be honored at the 24th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (June 13–22, 2025, Cluj-Napoca), where he will receive the Excellence Award for his outstanding contribution to the art of filmmaking. His presence at TIFF.24 will be marked by a special screening of TWST – Things We Said Today, a masterclass, and meetings with the audience.

Tickets and passes for TIFF.24 are available online at tiff.eventbook.ro 

Before emigrating to Germany in the early 1980s, Andrei Ujică published poetry, essays, and prose. Together with Șerban Foarță, he also authored lyrics for the band Phoenix.  

His cinematic debut, Videograms of a Revolution (made in collaboration with German artist Harun Farocki in 1991), is composed almost entirely of archival footage and marks the beginning of a trilogy about the fall of communism. A definitive classic and study material, the film reconstructs the December 1989 revolution that led to the fall of the Ceaușescu regime through both official recordings and amateur footage, offering a reflection on the media’s role in shaping historical narratives. “As we know, the 20th century is a cinematic one. But only the video camera, with its extended recording capabilities and mobility, can truly capture history as it unfolds—provided, of course, that history exists,” said Andrei Ujică. 

Out of the Present (1995) documents the collapse of the Soviet Union through the eyes of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who was aboard the MIR space station while the USSR ceased to exist on Earth. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu (2010) is a powerful montage film, created with the essential contribution of Dana Bunescu, and assembled from over 1,000 hours of archival material covering 25 years of Ceaușescu’s life—from the moment he came to power to his execution. 

Between these two seminal titles, Ujică also contributed to the 2005 exhibition Unknown Quantity with a DVD-format film about the conversations between philosopher Paul Virilio and journalist Svetlana Alexievich on the Chernobyl disaster. In 2006, he was one of the three filmmakers featured in TIFF’s 3x3 section. 

In 2024, Andrei Ujică returned with TWST – Things We Said Today, his most personal film project to date—a hybrid film he worked on for over a decade with longtime collaborator Dana Bunescu, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. In it, Ujică blends archival footage with animation and visual effects to recreate, as a kind of time capsule, the weekend of August 13–15, 1965, when The Beatles performed their iconic Shea Stadium concert in New York. The experience is narrated from the perspective of two teenagers. 

The director confessed that one of his dreams since high school was to make an American film and work with a major pop band—and that 50 years later, he made it happen: “As I told the young New York actors whose voices I recorded for the film, it doesn’t matter how long it takes to fulfill a dream—what matters is achieving it before you forget it.” 

The Excellence Award presented by Nova Power & Gas will be handed to director Andrei Ujică at the TIFF.24 Closing Gala.

The full TIFF.24 program will be announced soon and will feature over 200 films, cine-concerts, and events.  

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The Transilvania International Film Festival is organized by the Romanian Film Promotion Association and the Transilvania Film Festival Association.

With the support of: Ministry of Culture, National Film Center, Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council, Romanian Cultural Institute, Dacin Sara, UCIN, Department for Interethnic Relations – DRI, Florești Town Hall, Creative Europe – MEDIA

Under the auspices of: UNESCO City of Film

Presented by: Banca Transilvania

Main Sponsors: Mastercard, Vodafone, LIDL, Ursus, Regina Maria, Audi & Autoworld, IQOS, MOL România, Tenaris Silcotub, JTI, Pepsi, DeLonghi, HelpNet, Voxa, Betfair Romania Development, McDonald’s, Foundever, Farmec, Jidvei, Aqua Carpatica, Domeniile Sâmburești, Radisson Blu, Caii de la Letea, Energobit, Iulius Mall, E-ON, Compania de Apă Someș, Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim, Teilor, Casa de vinuri Cotnari, CSI, ECCO

Official coffee: NESPRESSO

Official beauty partner: Armani Beauty

Official insurer: Groupama

Official travel partner: Animawings

Clothing partner: Tudor Tailor

Technology partner: Reea

Hospitality partner: Eximtur

Partners: Bolt, PMA, Promelek, Intend, Lecom, Luna Cleaning, Cărturești

Main media partner: PRO TV

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