Sir Derek Jacobi, one of the most important names of British theater and film, will be present at this year’s edition of Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF), where one of his most recent films The History of Love will have its local premiere.

The History of Love is the first English-language film of Romanian-born French film director Radu Mihăileanu, who will also attend the festival. The film is based on the bestseller of the same name written by Nicole Krauss. The film will be screened several times throughout the festival, in the presence of the British actor and of the director. It enters local cinemas starting June 9.

Sir Derek Jacobi had more than 90 roles in TV and feature films such as The Day of the Jackal (1973), Little Dorrit (1983), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Riddle (2007), or The King's Speech (2010). As a theater actor he won the prestigious Laurence Olivier award for his roles in Cyrano de Bergerac (1983) and Twelfth Night (2009). He also received a Tony award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing (1984). He is a founding member of the National Theater Company in the U.K.

Besides former Bond girl Gemma Arterton, The History of Love stars US actor Elliott Gould, known for his role in the M*A*S*H TV series, and several Romanian actors, including Corneliu Ulici, Mihai Călin, Miriam Rizea, Simona Maican, Claudiu Maier, and Ovidiu Cuncea.

The film is a France-Canada-Belgium-Romania coproduction and was shot in Cluj county, Bucharest, Montreal, and New York.

Director Radu Mihăileanu was born in 1958 in Bucharest but has been living in France since 1980. He is known for such films as Trahir (1993); Train de vie (1998), which won the FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival and the audience award at the Sundance festival; Va, vis et deviens! (2005), which won a César award for best original script; and The Concert (2009), which won a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film, a César award for sound and soundtrack, and four Gopo awards. His 2011 film La source des femmes was selected in the official competition of the Cannes festival.

TIFF takes place in Cluj-Napoca, in Western Romania, between June 2 and June 11.

editor@romania-insider.com

 (Photo source: www.tiff.ro)