Transilvania International Film Festival, the largest feature film festival in the country, kicks off its 23rd edition today, June 14, in Cluj-Napoca.

The festival's sold-out opening gala, expected to gather a public of more than 3,500, marks the beginning of eleven days of hundreds of screenings, cine-concerts, exhibitions, concerts, discussions, and special events. Luc Besson's revenge and redemption thriller Dogman is the film that will be screened at the opening gala in Cluj-Napoca's Unirii Square. Over 1,000 guests, including actors, directors, producers, and other industry professionals, are expected in Cluj for an edition that organizers say will exceed 100,000 attendees.

The opening weekend is packed with events, including the screening of the film Confidenza (Trust), the latest work by Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti. Luchetti, a special guest at TIFF.23 and honored in the 3x3 section, will receive a special award for his contribution to world cinema.

On Sunday, June 16, fans will have the opportunity to meet actress Jojo T. Gibbs from Dogman at the TIFF Lounge in Piața Unirii. This is the first free-entry event hosted by the TIFF Lounge, with more events scheduled throughout the duration of the festival.

On Saturday, at Bánffy Castle in Bonțida, a special screening of Fritz Lang's Metropolis(dir. Fritz Lang), a masterpiece of expressionist cinema, will open the series of cine-concerts at TIFF.23. The following evening, the same venue will host a screening of Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses, a 1976 erotic film that was censored at the time of its release and remains controversial today.

Also on June 14, the first exhibitions open at the Art Museum: Frânturi (Fragments), which, through photographs and interviews by artist and activist Ruth Borgfjord, brings to light the intimate universe of LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people; Seeking Sincerity, a portrait exhibition where photographer Vlad Braga tries to capture a moment of vulnerability of his subjects; and Changing Environments. Together, part of the Neo Art Connect Science Year. Complementing the exhibition, The Heart of the Festival, an installation made from recycled elements, can be seen in University Square.

The Art Museum is also the venue for concerts by artists from diverse genres almost every night of the festival. Performing on Saturday and Sunday will be Dimitri's Bats and Kadjavsi.

Focus on Japanese cinema

Japanese cinema and culture are in focus at TIFF.23. Throughout the weekend, origami, ikebana, and manga workshops will be held in Piața Unirii, with free access based on registration.

The program of screenings includes classic masterpieces such as Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, Shohei Imamura's Ballad of Narayama, and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, three films by contemporary master Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, as well as recent Japanese productions.

More on the Focus Japan section here.

Romanian Film Days

Some of the most relevant recent Romanian productions are screened in the Romanian Film Days section of the festival, and 12 feature films and ten short films of them are competing for the three awards of the Romanian Film Days competition. The program also includes Romanian films awarded last year and others, set to premiere in Cluj-Napoca.

The public will be able to see Emanuel Pârvu's Three Kilometers to the End of the World, which was selected this year in the official competition of the Cannes festival, Andrei Cohn's Holly Week, presented this year in Forum section of the Berlinale, and Claudiu Mitcu's feature film debut Rusalka.

At the same time, the festival will screen Andrei Crețulescu's thriller Ext. Car – Night, Ana-Maria Comănescu's road movie Horia, and Cătălin Rotaru and Gabi Virginia Șarga's Where Elephants Go, the only Romanian film in this year's main competition of TIFF.

Other films premiering at TIFF are Alexandra Gulea's Maia – Portrait with Hands, Isabela von Tenț's Alice On & Off, Mihnea Toma's Family Weekend, Andrei Răuțu'sNight Butterflies, Ilinca Călugăreanu'sA Cautionary Tale, and George ve Gänæaard and Horia Cucută's Dismissed.

Outside of the competition, festival audiences can see Stere Gulea's Moromeții 3, the film that ends the trilogy based on Marin Preda's novels, Dan Curean's Family Movies, Alexandru Badea's Magnificent Sky, a documentary on avant-garde composers Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram, and Diana Nicolae's Between Silence and Sin, about poet Ana Blandiana and the power of words against an oppressive regime.

Nasty, the documentary on the life and career of tennis legend Ilie Năstase, and Radu Jude's Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World will also be screened at the festival.

Hungarian Film Days

On Wednesday, June 19, Cluj cinemas have scheduled a selection of Hungarian films. Ten films and just as many unique perspectives are part of the Hungarian Film Days program at TIFF.23. Most screenings allow the public to meet the filmmakers, who will take part in Q&A sessions.

Among the films to be screened are Fésős András's In the Face of Gravity, Moldovai Katalin'sWithout Air, Gergő Somogyvári's Fairy Garden, Dániel Hevér's Some Birds, Barnabás Tóth's Mastergame, Bálint Révész and Dávid Mikulán's Kix, Martin Boross's Raw Material, László Csáki's Pelikan Blue, Ádám Breier's All About the Levkoviches, and Szabolcs Hajdu's Kalman's Day.

The guests

Jojo T. Gibbs, one of the most promising emerging actresses, is a special guest at this year's TIFF. She will also attend the festival's opening gala, where the latest film directed by Luc Besson, Dogman, will be screened.

Daniele Luchetti, one of the most important contemporary Italian filmmakers, is one of the directors honored at TIFF.23 in the 3x3 section. He will be present at the screening of his film Confidenza on June 15, where he will receive the Special Award for Contribution to World Cinema.

Sibel Kekilli will attend TIFF as a jury member deciding the main competition awards. The actress is known for her roles in Fatih Akin's Head-On, which earned her two Lola Awards, and the hit series Game of Thrones.

Also invited as a member of the Official Competition jury is producer Konstantinos Kontovrakis, who in recent years has worked on awarded films such as Molly Manning Walker's How to Have Sex and Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or winner Triangle of Sadness. A regular at TIFF, director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson returns to Cluj-Napoca for the fourth time, this time as a jury member. The main competition jury also includes Romanian director Paul Negoescu (Two Lottery Tickets, Men of Deeds) and Markéta Šantrochová, president of European Film Promotion.

The What's Up, Doc? competition jury includes editor and director Dana Bunescu, Bulgarian producer Mira Staleva, and Italian film critic Giuseppe Gariazzo.

Romanian actress Catrinel Dumitrescu, known for films such as Buletin de București (dir. Virgil Calotescu) and The Curse of the Earth, the Curse of Love (dir. Mircea Mureșan), will be present in Cluj to receive the Excellence Award at the TIFF.23 Closing Gala and participate in a special screening of Marriage with Rehearsal (dir. Virgil Calotescu).

Actor Bogdan Dumitrache, who starred in major Romanian productions such as Cristi Puiu'sThe Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, Călin Netzer's Child's Pose, and Corneliu Porumboiu's When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism, will attend various Q&A sessions at the festival.

Directors Emanuel Pârvu and Stere Gulea will be joined in Cluj by actors Horațiu Mălăele, Olimpia Melinte, Alex Călin, Dorina Chiriac, and Mara Bugarin.

Ilie Năstase and Ion Țiriac will be present at the screening of the film Nasty, while singer Marina Voica returns to TIFF as the protagonist of the film Night Butterflies, selected in the Romanian Film Days.

Also among this year's festival guests are directors Cristi Puiu and Nae Caranfil, actors Iulian Postelnicu, Rodica Lazăr, Dorian Boguță, Katia Pascariu, Dana Rogoz, Ana Ularu, and Toma Cuzin.

The cine-concerts

The festival's series of cine-concerts is opened by Metropolis (1927) and A Page of Madness (1926), followed by Hans Karl Breslauer's City Without Jews, a masterpiece of the silent era from 1924. The film will be accompanied live by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin.

Another cine-concert is focused on the restored copies of four short films by D.W. Griffith. The film will be accompanied by live music performed by Donald Sosin, this time alongside his wife Joanna Seaton, who will sing and play percussion.

Dracula's Death, directed by Hungarian director Károly Lajthay, is said to be the world's first film about the character created by Bram Stoker. It was produced in Budapest in 1921 and co-written by Michael Curtiz, who before moving to Hollywood and winning an Oscar for Casablanca, began his career in Cluj-Napoca. Since 2018, students from the media department of Sapientia University in Cluj have participated in a series of workshops on film shooting on celluloid, the final goal of which is to remake Dracula's Death, which was entirely lost in the 1940s. The result, a work in progress, can be seen at the festival. Director Lakatos Róbert Árpád is coordinating the project. The composer responsible for the cine-concert's music is French composer Miquèu Montanaro.

Another event combining film and music will be the screening of the documentary Luis Villas Boas, the Last Trip, directed by filmmaker and musician Laurent Filipe. Luis Villas Boas is regarded as a fundamental figure in Portuguese culture. His activities include founding the Hot Club de Portugal in 1948 and the Cascais International Jazz Festival. The documentary screening will be followed by a jazz mini-concert performed by Laurent Filipe.

(Photo courtesy of TIFF)

simona@romania-insider.com