Iranian debutante Dornaz Hajiha's 'Like a Fish to the Moon' wins top prize at Transilvania Film Festival

Iranian filmmaker Dornaz Hajiha won the top prize on Saturday at the Transilvania Film Festival, as the jury awarded the first-time director with the Transilvania Trophy for “Like a Fish in the Moon,” a touching family drama about two parents dealing with the emotional fallout when their young son suddenly stops talking.

In the jury citation, Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco highlighted "the originality of his subject, the power of his performances and the intelligence with which he explored very difficult subjects", describing "Like a fish on the moon" as "a film that resonated long after its end".

Hajiha was visibly moved as she took the stage to accept the award, which was presented to her by Lifetime Achievement Award winner Transilvania Geoffrey Rush, moments after the Aussie actor paid a passionate and sometimes whimsical tribute to the power of cinema.

"It's such an honor to receive this award and thank you for your amazing speech. I was so moved and I'm so happy to receive this award from Geoffrey Rush. And I was so happy that all the members of the jury understood this film like that," Hajiha said, referring to the recognition given to the lead actress. Sepidar Taherti, who shared the prize for the best performance of the festival with Nacho Quesada (“The Barbarians”).

"I really think it doesn't matter if you're a five year old or a 50-year-old woman. If you are forced to do things, even if it seems normal, you only feel suffocation and you feel trapped. And you might stay silent,” Hajiha added. /p>

The Iranian director's triumph marked a historic night in Cluj, where for the first time the top prizes of the Transilvania festival went to women. Brazilian Carolina Markowicz won Best Director for her dark comedy 'Charcoal', while Finland's Tia Kouvo won the Special Jury Prize for 'Family Time'.

Guests arriving at the National Historic Theater in Cluj arrived under a bronze sky that threatened to put a brake on the procedure, even if the atmosphere remained at the rendezvous. In the end, the rain lasted long enough for red carpet arrivals to make their way into the atrium of the neo-baroque theater, where they were serenaded by a string quartet before the ceremony began.

Regular rain nevertheless turned much of the week into a squall, with downpours sweeping through the cobbled streets of historic old town streets and the cancellation of many popular outdoor screenings on Cluj's Piața Unirii. During Saturday's closing ceremony, festival founder Tudor Giurgiu invited festival guests to return to Transilvania in 2024 with a promise of sunnier, deadpan skies: “Bring your bathing suits. It could be even better."

The veteran director added to his emcee duties by accepting the People's Choice Award for a Film Romanian, after its world premiere its latest feature, "Freedom", a thriller set in the last days of the communist regime of strongman Nicolae Ceaușescu. A separate Audience Award went to Moldovan director Ion Borș for his tragicomedy "Carbon".

In the Romanian Days competition, documentary filmmaker Vlad Petri won first prize for "Between Revolutions “, a portrait of a passionate friendship spanning a turbulent decade marked by uprisings in Iran and Romania. The section's Best Debut Album award went to Andrei Tănase for "Tiger Day," a meditation on love, loss, and grief in the face of public panic when a tiger escapes from the zoo. /p>

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