The Transylvania International Film Festival TIFF offers concerts, debates with special guests and thematic films in several sections – HBO Day, EcoTIFF, Hungarian Day, plus “25 Years After”, a new programme dedicated to the major change in 1989. This year’s edition of TIFF, organized by the Romanian Film Promotion Association and by the Film and Urban Culture Association, is scheduled from May 29 to June 7.
According to producer Tudor Giurgiu, TIFF manager, the success gained by the festival in time, the fact that it gained fame at national international level, makes expectations be high. “They expect you to have better and better films, they expect you to have startling events, they expect you to come up with something new every year. Films are not always helping us. Last year, by example, it was a poor year for Romanian cinema, this year, things are better, but fundamentally, it is important that we are, mainly, the same team that organizes and enjoys this festival. It is a great family that reunites before TIFF and, as long as we enjoy organizing this event, this thing is also reflected in the experience at TIFF”, Giurgiu declared for Agerpres.
After impressing the audience in 2011 in Union Square in Cluj, at the opening ceremony of the festival, the group Compagnie des Quidams returns to the Transylvania International Film Festival with a new music and visuals performance: “FierS a Cheval”. An excerpt will be presented at the official opening on Friday, May 29, starting at 8:45 pm, in Union Square, and the entire performance may be enjoyed at Bontida, in the first evening of the weekend at the Castle, on Saturday, May 30, starting at 8.30 pm. The show at the Castle will be followed by the Romanian premiere of one of the most awaited documentaries of year: “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”, directed by Brett Morgan, the first film about the famous leader of the band Nirvana, made with the cooperation of Cobain’s family. Also in Bontida, on Sunday, at 9.45 pm, the pioneers of French dub, Zenzile, will accompany live the masterpiece “Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis” (1927). In the two days, during 11.00 am and 7.00 pm, children are awaited at games and activities specially conceived for them.
11 new documentary films for the “What’s Up, Doc?” section
This year, TIFF proposes inhabitants of Cluj a brand new concept: the Pool Cinema. Wearing bathing suits and holding a cocktail, viewers may watch from the pool of the Moving Club in Belvedere Hotel the film Short Plays, an unique collage of 31 stories about football fever, made by the same number of directors, including Gaspar Noe, Carlos Reygadas, Vincent Gallo and Karim Ainouz. The event takes place on Monday, June 1, starting at 8:30 pm.
Another memorable moment will be the Tabu experience, on June 1, at 9 pm, at the Students’ Culture House. F. W. Murnau’s last masterpiece will be accompanied live by Christine Ott, one of the best ondes martenot performers of the world. The artist has performed by Radiohead, Yann Tiersen, Noir Desir and appeared on the soundtracks of Claire Denis, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Tony Gatlif.
One of the most celebrated Romanian bands of the moment, Robin and the Backstabbers launches at Hotel Continental, on June 4, the melodramatic pop album “Bacovia Overdrive vol. II: Arhanghel’sk”, a special occasion to enjoy live the band’s latest songs.
For nostalgic persons, as well as for amateurs of retro evenings, the Discoteca project will bring at Hotel Continental, on June 5, at 10 pm, singers Silvia Dumitrescu and Stela Enache, at a party with rom-pop DJ set. The Discoteca project reconnects today’s clubs to a history of music less known and brings back the music of old age in a new context.
The last year’s fund collecting campaign for the Film Deposit, the first approach of the “Save The Big Screen!” project, has contributed to
the reactivation of the space, that has hosted this year a series of special events bearing the TIFF. Daily, between June 3 and 7, starting at 2 pm, the Film Deposit will become a playground, fair, summer garden, theatre, a concert and exhibition venue. The entrance is free.
On June 3, at 9:45 pm, the Deposit will host a screening of YouTube Bazaar, Dan Chisu’s new film, that says the spectacular story of the vlogger Bahoi. On Thursday, June 4, at 9:30, the film “Zivan Makes a Punk Festival” (directed by Ognjen Glavonic) will present four days in the life of an enthusiastic punker poet, and afterwards, the band Datum Vyroby, lead characters in the film, will perform an energetic concert of Slovakian punk. On Friday, during EcoTIFF, Bikes Vs. Cars, a documentary on the effects of cars on crimes, will reunite at the Deposit the community of cyclists in Cluj, and on Saturday, the motorcyclists are awaited at “On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter”, a documentary about the passionate and dangerous world of motorcyclists.
The HBO Day on June 4, dedicated to the longtime partner channel of TIFF, offers original documentaries; among them, the multiple award-winning ‘Toto and his Sisters’ by Alexander Nanau; ‘Chuck Norris vs. Communism’ – the story of pirate videotapes of the Communist period, with Irina Nistor’s voice-over translation well-known to Romanians, already featured at the Sundance Film Festival; Claudiu Mitcu’s ‘The Network’; ‘Birdman’ – not the Academy Award winner, but the homonym film directed by Alexandru Mavrodineanu and Mihai Grecea; and ‘Passport for Germany’ by Razvan Georgescu.
Also on June 4, a four-part soul project of actress McDormand will be on screen at the Arta Cinema, at 10am.
The organizers prepared 11 new documentary films for the “What’s Up, Doc?” section.
EcoTIFF features documentaries on environmental themes on June 5, the World Environment Day.
The Hungarian Day, on June 3, brings famous guests and six film premieres. Director Gyorgy Palfi is back in Cluj with ‘Free Fall’, winner of three awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Jim Jarmusch’s favourite actor Isaach de Bankole will present “Mirage”, the fifth feature film by Szabolcs Hajdu. Hungarian ethnic villagers of Transylvania speak about life and love in ‘Stream of Love’.
From May 30 to June 4, the Diversity Days are organized in a partnership with the Interethnic Relations Department of the Romanian Government. This year’s extended programme features films and events dedicated to the ethnic minorities.
“25 Years After”, this year’s novelty, is a section of five films on the effects of the historic events of 1989; among them, Alexei Fedorchenko’s “Angels of Revolution”; Jan Martin Scharf’s “Dessau Dancers” about East German break dancers; and Natalia Kudriasova’s “Pioneer Heroes” depicting the dreams of Russian pupils and their clash with post-Soviet reality.
The TIFF House will be animated each night by concerts on the terrace. The program will include Adrian Naidin & Ionuț Micu, Moebius, Satellites, Zenzile, The Dream Diggers, Of the Wand & The Moon, Temple Invisible and Firma, Face Today.
Nastassja Kinski, honorary guest
Nastassja Kinski, actress, model and sex simbol of the 70s and 80s may be admired on the red carpet in Cluj, at the Transylvania International Film Festival 2015.
Nastassja Kinski is visiting Romania for the first time in June, as special guest of TIFF, and will receive at the 14th edition of the festival the special award for the Contribution to World Cinema, Agerpres reported.
The actress performed in over 60 films and worked with directors such as Wim Wenders, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola or David Lynch. She will meet the audience in Cluj at the special screening of the film “Paris, Texas” (Palme d’Or, 1984), on June 3, at 8.30 pm, at the Students’ Culture House, and will have a masterclass at Transylvania Talent Lab, on June 5, starting at 12 pm.
Nastassja Kinski was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988, and joined another jury at the 2014 edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival. She is involved in charity campaigns such as “Sports for Peace” and “Cinema for Peace” and permanently supports the actions of the International Committee of the Red Cross. This year, in February, she was present on the red carpet of the Berlinale, for the Charity Gala Cinema for Peace.
