Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono has decided to shoot the new fantasy series Tokyo Vampire Hotel in Romania’s Transylvania region. The new film is about the roots of the Transylvania vampires and their encounter with vampires in Japan.

“Sion Sono fell in love with Cluj and Transylvania during his stay here for TIFF (Transylvania International Film Festival e.n.), when ten of his most representative films were screened. Accompanied by actress Megumi Kagurazaka, the director visited many tourist attractions of the area and, impressed by the scenery and the city itself, he kept his promise to return to Cluj to film here,” reads a statement from TIFF.

Important scenes from six episodes of the Tokyo Vampire Hotel series are shot these days in the cellars of the Art Museum in Cluj-Napoca, the former Continental Hotel, Unirii and the Museum Squares, inside the spectacular Turda salt mine, and at Corvinilor Castle in Hunedoara county. The production teams are made up of professionals from Cluj and Bucharest.

The fantasy series stars Japanese actresses Kaho, Ami Tomite, and Lorena Koto, as well as Romanian actor Cristi Rigman. Elisa Parvan and Sandra Duncuta also appear in the film, alongside graduates or students from the acting department of the Theater and Television Faculty within the Babes-Bolyai University.

“Cluj is truly becoming a city of film, and not only in the light of TIFF and the film school, but also through the extraordinary potential of attracting more and more foreign producers and directors. Last year, for The History of Love, Radu Mihaileanu's new film, we were able to recreate in Cluj the scenery and scenes depicting the 1941 Poland, the 1954 Chile, or Minsk, as it would have looked like in 1957,” said Cristian Hordila, TIFF manager.

Sion Sono is one of the most appreciated Japanese filmmakers, author of more than 45 movies made over three decades. His films have been selected or awarded at Cannes, Berlin and Karlovy Vary, some of the most famous being Guilty of Romance (2011), Love Exposure (2008), Noriko's Dinner Table (2005), and Suicide Club (2001).

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)