For the first time in the festival’s history, two feature films have shared the top prize in the International Feature Film Competition: “Chronovisor”, directed by Jack Auen and Kevin Walker, and “At Night”, directed by Beatrice Gibson, received the Best Feature Film Award ex-aequo, worth €2,000 and offered by Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim. The jury, comprising filmmaker J.D. Fernández Molero, film and media studies lecturer Erika Balsom, and producer Gabriela Suciu, chose to award the prize both to „a film that uses archival materials to weave a fictional tale that transforms the mundane into a mysterious, labyrinthine thriller”, and to one that „also departs from reality to craft a poetic portrait that draws the viewer into an intimate journey at once personal and collective.”
In the International Short Film Competition, the jury, formed of Filmfest Dresden director Anne Gaschütz, filmmaker and writer Libertad Gills, and film critic Cecilia Ermini, awarded no fewer than five prizes. The BIEFF Award for Best Film, worth €1,000 and offered with the support of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, went to “Equal Dust” by Jani Peltonen. The jury praised the way the film “playfully yet poignantly use archival material to revisit collective fears of nuclear war and destruction, drawing on popular media’s capacity to reflect the fears and anxieties of the past”.
The Award for Best Filmmaker, worth €1,000 and offered with the support of the Romanian Filmmakers Union, went to Vika Kirchenbauer, director of “The Suffocating Now”. “A deeply political work by an artist who continues to challenge the conventions of filmmaking”, the film “begins as a personal account of a hospital visit” before gradually expanding into a “portrait of today’s Germany, confronting realities many still refuse to acknowledge, while the filmmaker critically reflects on their own privilege and accountability”. The Award for Best Visual Concept, worth €1,000 and offered with the support of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund, went to Sidney Mandros and Giancarlo M. Sandoval’s “Language Models”, “for its striking visual language, transforming landscapes and fragmented images into a reflection on the erasure and re-emergence of languages, cultures and peoples.”
For the first time, BIEFF also awarded an Award for Best Sound Concept, worth €5,000 in audio post-production services offered by Luno DSL. For “its inventive use of sound, turning the voices, rhythms, and textures of water into a vivid cinematic language”, the recipient of this first award was Eva Sajanová, director of “How to Listen to Fountains”. Last but not least, the jury also awarded a Special Mention to Daniel Mann’s “The Recce”, “for its simple yet effective storytelling, its fine sense of humour and beautifully composed images”.
The jury comprising film critic Öykü Sofuoğlu, Greg de Cuir Jr, co-founder and artistic director of Kinopravda Institute in Belgrade, and film curator Andrei Tănăsescu awarded the BIEFF Award for Best Romanian Film, worth €1,000 and offered with the support of Dacin Sara, to “Three Bedtime Stories” by Andreea Chiper. “By documenting fragile stories of resilience and loss through a collage of oral and visual testimonies, the filmmaker activates the potential of private archives. Made invisible by patriarchy, these women and their stories find a space of recollection and reconciliation in the film.” The Award for Best Visual Concept in the National Competition, worth €2,000 in post-production services offered by LUNO CGS, went to “In My Dreams, Or in Ours” by Alma Buhagiar: “a film pulsing with a sumptuous palette of carnal and spiritual delights, for its expressive and passionate faces, inscribed with a genuine sense of community.”
The two winning feature films can be watched again on the big screen as follows: “At Night” on Tuesday, September 29, from 20:30 at Cinema Elvire Popesco, and “Chronovisor” on Thursday, October 1, from 17:00 at Apollo111 Cinema. The two National Competition short film programs will also be screened again on September 29 and 30, from 18:00 at Cinema Union. The winning short films from the International Competition will be screened today, September 29, from 18:00 at Cinema Elvire Popesco.
***
Follow us:
bieff.ro | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
***
ORGANISER: Asociația Culturală Manekino
CO-FINANCED BY: Administrația Fondului Cultural Național, Primăria Municipiului București prin ARCUB în cadrul Programului „București în premieră” 2026, MEDIA – Creative Europe
MAIN PARTNERS: The European Network for Film Discourse, Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim, Luno, Uniunea Cineaștilor din România, Dacin Sara, Uniunea Armenilor din România, Centrul Cultural Armean, Institutul Francez din România, Institutul Italian de Cultură, Goethe-Institut România, Institutul Polonez din București, EUNIC România
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS: Universitatea Națională de Artă Teatrală și Cinematografică “I.L.Caragiale”, Muzeul Național al Literaturii Române, Muzeul de Artă Recentă, Arhiva Națională de Filme, Cinema Elvire Popesco, Apollo111 Cinema, A Wall Is A Screen, F-Sides, MozaiQ, Covor Plante Poezie
MEDIA PARTNERS: Talking Shorts, RFI România, Radio România Cultural, Scena9, Zile și Nopți, IQads, Films in Frame, Revista FILM, Observator Cultural, LiterNet, MovieNews.ro, Cinefilia.ro, CineFan.ro, Munteanu Recomandă, Happening.ro
“Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, the 16th edition” is a cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
“Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, the 16th edition” is a project co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the „București în premieră” 2026 Programme. The content of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the Bucharest City Hall or that of ARCUB. For detailed information about the financing programme of Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro.
BIEFF is part of the international festival network The European Network for Film Discourse (THE END) alongside Filmfest Dresden (DE), Vienna Shorts (AT), Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival (PT), Kortfilmfestival Leuven (BE), FeKK Ljubljana Short Film Festival (SI) and Vilnius Short Film Festival (LT). Between 2025 and 2026, the network is supported by a grant from MEDIA - Creative Europe.
