BUCHAREST: The 21st Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF, 19 – 28 September 2025) is launching an international short film competition alongside its traditional feature film competition, and welcomes renown guests such as Sergei Loznitsa and Nadav Lapid.
After its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition of the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Milk Teeth by Romanian director Mihai Mincan will open the festival and it will also be part of the main competition, alongside Ink Wash by Romanian director Sarra Tsorakidis, The Visitor by Lithuanian director Vytautas Katkus, and God Will Not Help by Croatian director Hana Jušić, among others.
Eight films are in the Feature Film Competition, and 15 in the Short Film Competition.
The sidebar events include restrospectives of Sergei Loznitsa and Nadav Lapid, and masterclasses with both of them, as well as a Panorama section, a programme dedicated to historical films, and another one presenting domestic films.
The only film festival in Bucharest having a feature film competition, BIFF is organised by Fundația Charta and Asociația Culturală Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, under the High Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Radu, with support from the Romanian Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the Romanian Film Centre, Dacin Sara, the Romanian Filmmakers Union, CREART Bucharest, the Italian Institute for Culture, and the Romanian National Film Archive.
Feature Film Competition:
Milk Teeth / Dinti de lapte (Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria)
Directed by Mihai Mincan
Produced by deFilm
Coproduced by Remora Films, Ström Pictures, StudioBauhaus, Screening Emotions
Supported by the Romanian Film Centre, the Romanian Office for Film and Cultural Investments (OFIC), the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (France), the Danish Film Institute, the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Hellenic Film &Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece / National Recovery & Resilience Plan – Greece 2.0 – Co-productionWindow, ARTE Kino, Media Investment Communication, Creative Europe MEDIA, ERT SA, TorinoFilmLab Production Award & Green Filming Award, Cinema City, the Romanian Television, Avanpost, Radio Romania
A Light That Never Goes Out (Finland, Norway)
Directed by Lauri-Matti Parppei
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo / La misteriosa mirada del flamenco (Chile, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain)
Directed by Diego Cespedes
The President’s Cake (Irak, USA)
Directed by Hasan Hadi
Ink Wash (Romania, Greece, Denmark)
Directed by Sarra Tsorakidis
The Last One of the Road / La cittá di pianura (Italy)
Directed by Francesco Sossai
The Visitor / Svečias (Lithuania, Norway, Sweden)
Directed by Vytautas Katkus
Produced by M-Films
Coproduced by Staer, Garagefilm International
Supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, Film Fond Nord, the Swedish Film Institute
God Will Not Help / Bog neće pomoći (Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia)
Directed by Hana Jušić
Produced by Kinorama
Coproduced by Nightswim, microFILM, Horsefly Films, Maneki Films, Perfo Production, ERT S.A.
Supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Eurimages, the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC), the Romanian Film Centre, the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece | Co- Production Window, European Union – NextGenerationEU, Aide aux Cinémas du Monde – Centre national du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée – Institut français, the Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film, ERT S.A., HRT, Re-Act
