The filmmakers celebrated in the 3x3 section at TIFF.24

Rodrigo Cortés' cinematic adventure began in his teenage years, after borrowing a Super 8 camera from his uncle and, together with his best friend, began to play at making films. After a series of award-winning short films, he made his feature film debut with The Contestant (2007), a dark comedy about a university professor who wins the lottery, only to discover that, after paying the taxes, he won't have enough money left to pay his debts. This film will be screened at TIFF.24, in the 3x3 section.

In Cluj, film lovers will have the chance to explore the eclectic filmography of the Spanish filmmaker through Buried (2010), an intense and claustrophobic thriller about an American truck driver (played by Ryan Reynolds) who wakes up buried alive in a wooden coffin in the middle of Iraq, with only a few objects. They will also experience his most recent film, Escape (2024), which tells the story of a rather unusual character: a man who would do anything to end up in prison. The latter has Martin Scorsese as its producer, one of Cortés' idols.

Rodrigo Cortés’ presence at TIFF is made possible with the support of the Embassy of Spain in Romania.

Known for his unique cinematic vision, at the intersection of magical realism, Baltic folklore, and visual experimentation, Rainer Sarnet is one of the most interesting voices in contemporary Eastern European cinema. On the occasion of the extensive focus dedicated to Estonia, TIFF.24 offers a comprehensive portrait of him in the 3x3 section, giving the audience the rare opportunity to explore the universe of a filmmaker who defies conventional cinema and classic cinematic languages.

The Idiot (2011) is a contemporary and personal reinterpretation of Dostoevsky's famous novel of the same name, November (2017) takes the audience through Estonia's snow-covered forests in a terrifying fairy tale filmed in hypnotic black and white, while The Invisible Fight (2023) combines death metal music with martial arts in a deliciously dubious story about a border guard between the Soviet Union and China who seeks enlightenment.

Rainer Sarnet’s films at TIFF are part of the Focus Estonia program, made possible with the support of the Embassy of Estonia in Romania and the Estonian Film Institute.

Poetic, absurd, yet deeply anchored in the social realities of his country, Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov is the author of a compact body of work filled with references and cinematic homages, and will have a mini-retrospective at TIFF.24 featuring three of his most recent films.

Moor (2024) is an urban drama with thriller accents and moments of visual poetry, in which an unnamed mercenary, literally haunted by the shadows of his victims, fights to save his sister-in-law from a human trafficking network. Yellow Cat (2020), premiered at Venice, is a tragicomic story about a former inmate obsessed with cinema who dreams of opening a cinema in the mountains, while Cadet (2024 – Berlinale Forum) explores in a horror key the toxic and violent world of a military academy shaken by a series of mysterious deaths.

From his prolific filmography (17 films in 14 years), last year at TIFF, Steppenwolf (2024) was screened, while TIFF’s Cinematheque at Cinema Victoria in Cluj will program, at the end of May, as a preview for the retrospective in June, the rural comedy Herd Immunity (2021), an absurd story about corruption during the pandemic.