A Woman Heats the Sauna
TIFF.24
Preceded by the short film Sauna Day (dir. Anna Hints, Tushar Prakash)
Estonia - 1979
69 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Schedule
Schedule
Friday 13.06
Saturday 14.06
The Black Hole
Q&A with director Moonika Siimets
When the aliens land on Earth, they will change the lives of everyone they meet. Sirje and Maret, dreaming of finding work abroad, end up in an extraterrestrial science experiment. Jüri, still living with his mother, falls in love with his lustful neighbour, Gertrud.
Estonia, Finland - 2024
115 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Autumn Ball
Q&A with actor Rain Tolk
It’s autumn. We see a huge sprawling conurbation of tower blocks built in the Soviet era – the neighbourhood called Lasnamäe. Mati is a young writer who lives alone in a two-bedroom apartment after his wife left him for his friend.
Estonia - 2007
123 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Sunday 15.06
The Black Hole
Q&A with director Moonika Siimets
When the aliens land on Earth, they will change the lives of everyone they meet. Sirje and Maret, dreaming of finding work abroad, end up in an extraterrestrial science experiment. Jüri, still living with his mother, falls in love with his lustful neighbour, Gertrud.
Estonia, Finland - 2024
115 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Life & Love
Q&A with director Helen Takkin
In 1933, in times of hardship when nothing is certain and love only seems to exist in films, optimistic cinephile Irma believes in the possibility of true love. The country girl catches the eye of the lonely, handsome older publisher Rudolf, but he is surrounded by unsettling rumors.
Estonia - 2024
119 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Monday 16.06
Life & Love
Q&A with director Helen Takkin
In 1933, in times of hardship when nothing is certain and love only seems to exist in films, optimistic cinephile Irma believes in the possibility of true love. The country girl catches the eye of the lonely, handsome older publisher Rudolf, but he is surrounded by unsettling rumors.
Estonia - 2024
119 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Wednesday 18.06
A Woman Heats the Sauna
TIFF.24
Preceded by the short film Sauna Day (dir. Anna Hints, Tushar Prakash)
Estonia - 1979
69 minute
FOCUS Estonia
20:30
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Q&A with the actors and producers
Q&A with the actors and producers
Pornit
Kontinental '25
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Q&A with the actors and producers
Q&A with the actors and producers
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
România, Brazil, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg - 2025
109 minute
Romanian Days
The Invisible Fight
Q&A with director Rainer Sarnet
USSR-China border, 1973. Rafael is in the army on guard duty when the border falls under attack from flying Chinese kung fu warriors.
Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Greece - 2024
115 minute
3 x 3
FOCUS Estonia
Sleep #2
TIFF.24
A fallen flower/Returning to the branch?/It was a butterfly. (Arakida Moritake). Sleep #2 means: life, death, nature, poetry, fragility, impressionism, selfies, Andy Warhol, love and kisses.
România - 2024
61 minute
Romanian Days
Thursday 19.06
A Rebel Edge
Doru Chirodea fled to America in the 1980s and started writing poetry in English without actually knowing the language. Back in Romania, he prints books of poetry at his own expense, for an increasingly narrow audience. A serene meditation on the end of a bohemian, rebellious lifestyle.
România - 2024
87 minute
Romanian Days
Love Hurts
Love Hurts is an intimate documentary about the fragility and power of love, which tells the true stories of two couples over two years of suffering, separations and reconciliations. The film explores the sinuous dynamics of relationships and the difficult process of emotional healing.
România - 2025
94 minute
Romanian Days
Tooth and Nail
Two filmmakers follow an entrepreneur turned eco-activist as he exposes Romania's timber mafia. Their journey takes a dramatic turn when, in the middle of a forest, the three are attacked by a group of 12 angry men.
România - 2024
85 minute
Romanian Days
Smile at Last
Q&A with producer Monika Raide
16-year-old Mari, raised without a mother by a drunkard father, is put in an orphanage which she immediately, though unsuccessfully, tries to flee from. The sensitive Mari finds it hard to adapt to the coarse manners and brutal games amongst the children.
Estonia - 1985
86 minute
FOCUS Estonia
20:30
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Q&A with the actors and producers
Q&A with the actors and producers
Pornit
Kontinental '25
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Q&A with the actors and producers
Q&A with the actors and producers
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
România, Brazil, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg - 2025
109 minute
Romanian Days
Tata
A journalist from Moldova, estranged from her father who had emigrated to Italy years before, finds out he has become a victim of workplace harassment.
România, Germany, Netherlands - 2024
82 minute
Romanian Days
Alien 2 or the Return of Valdis in 17 Chapters
TIFF.24
Preceded by the short film Alien 2 or: Valdis' Escape in 11 Chapters (dir. Rasmus Merivoo )
Estonia - 2024
100 minute
FOCUS Estonia
The New Year That Never Came
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments through the programme Cinema without barriers, with the support of the Institut francais in Romania.
România, Serbia - 2024
138 minute
Romanian Days
Beyond the River
Beyond the river lies a world where suffering, poverty, and violence define everyday life. The film doesn’t explain or judge - it listens. With no external narration, the community tells its own story - with pain, with humor, with dignity.
România, Hungary - 2024
60 minute
Romanian Days
Merman
A female voice is haunting a male gaze.
România - 2024
86 minute
Romanian Days
Friday 20.06
Beyond the River
Beyond the river lies a world where suffering, poverty, and violence define everyday life. The film doesn’t explain or judge - it listens. With no external narration, the community tells its own story - with pain, with humor, with dignity.
România, Hungary - 2024
60 minute
Romanian Days
The New Year That Never Came
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments
Screening also accessible for people with visual impairments through the programme Cinema without barriers, with the support of the Institut francais in Romania.
România, Serbia - 2024
138 minute
Romanian Days
Aurora
Q&A with directors Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk
Aurora, the daughter of a religious leader, travels with her husband Joonas to celebrate their wedding anniversary with her parents and the congregation.
Estonia - 2025
111 minute
FOCUS Estonia
Comatogen
Trying to get money to cover a debt for her son, who is in danger of going to prison, Alina, a nurse, faces an unexpected ethical problem. World premiere at TIFF!
România, Moldova, Republic of - 2025
105 minute
Romanian Days
Caliu. Nothing else, what more could I do?
Q&A with director Simona Constantin
Not willing to accept that his glorious life as the "King of the violin" is over, Caliu starts the journey of reinventing himself. Traveling back and forth between present struggles and the old, golden days, music is the only constant in Caliu's life.
Romania, Qatar - 2025
90 minute
Romanian Days
The Spruce Forest
Q&A with director Tudor Giurgiu and the film crew
Inspired by the tragedy of Fântâna Albă on April 1, 1941, the film recounts the fate of a Romanian community in Bessarabia, massacred in a desperate attempt to find refuge from the Soviet occupation.
România, Moldova, Republic of - 2025
75 minute
Romanian Days
Love Hurts
Love Hurts is an intimate documentary about the fragility and power of love, which tells the true stories of two couples over two years of suffering, separations and reconciliations. The film explores the sinuous dynamics of relationships and the difficult process of emotional healing.
România - 2025
94 minute
Romanian Days
Tooth and Nail
Two filmmakers follow an entrepreneur turned eco-activist as he exposes Romania's timber mafia. Their journey takes a dramatic turn when, in the middle of a forest, the three are attacked by a group of 12 angry men.
România - 2024
85 minute
Romanian Days
Little Syria
Shot over 20 years, Little Syria follows the quest of a brother, his sister and her boyfriend trapped between Syria, from where they ran for their lives, and Europe, which seems at times to embrace them and and then to push them back where they came from.
Germany, Romania, Portugal - 2025
90 minute
Romanian Days
Traffic
Natalia and Ginel leave their small Romanian Danube village to work abroad in a big Flemish city. When she is assaulted, Natalia asks Iţă, a friend from home turned into a crook, to help her. Iţă uses the opportunity to make an unexpected proposition...
România, Belgium, Netherlands - 2024
126 minute
Romanian Days