On June 14, over 3,500 spectators were present in Piața Unirii in Cluj-Napoca at the impressive Opening Gala of the 23rd edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival. Thus, a marathon of films and special events that will take place until June 24 was started. In the first weekend of the festival, over 20 events in the program were sold out. Among them, the screening of the film Nasty, the Metropolis dinner-concert at Bonțida and the screening of the film Incredere/Faith.
In the applause of a full hall, the director Daniele Luchetti was honored with the presentation, in the national premiere, of his latest film, Confidence. The Italian filmmaker received the Special Award for his contribution to world cinema. “TIFF gave me the opportunity to have another perspective of my work, the selection in the program of 3 films made over 30 years and the opportunity to see them again here, with the audience, helped me understand how different and yet how much they have in common,” said Luchetti.
On Saturday evening, the TIFF.23 cine-concert series debuted at the Bánffy Castle in Bonțida with the sold out screening of the film Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s expressionist masterpiece from 1927 accompanied by the music of the Italians from Edison Studio.
“The whole city is part of this festival. TIFF is the kind of experience that everyone wants to be a part of, it’s a very strong energy around. I read about the history of the country and I understand why art and culture are important for Romanians”, said the actress Jojo T. Gibbs, at the first InspiraTIFF meeting of this edition.
On Sunday evening, Ilie Năstase went on stage in Piața Unirii to receive the applause of over 3,000 spectators present at the screening of the documentary Nasty, at the end of which the autograph session lasted almost an hour.
Among the sold-out events of the first weekend of TIFF.23 were the screenings of the films from the Official Competition – Girls will be Girls (dir. Shuchi Talati, 2024, India) and Summer Brother (d. Joren Molter, Netherlands), but also films such as The Beast (La Bête, d. Bertrand Bonello, France, 2024) and Sons (d. Gustav Moller, Denmark, 2024) and the screening of the mini-series Tovarășu’: the making , the glory and undoing of a dictator (dir. Trevor Poots, Romania, 2024).
TIFF.23 continues until June 24. In the following days, the teams of the films from the Romanian Film Days section are expected in Cluj-Napoca: Three Kilometres to the End of the World (dir. Emanuel Pârvu), which arrives at TIFF directly from Cannes, Ext. Car. Noapte (dir. Andrei Crețulescu) or Moromeții 3 (dir. Stere Gulea), the last part of the trilogy based on Marin Preda’s novels.
Actors such as Bogdan Dumitrache, Dana Rogoz, Ana Ularu and Catrinel Dumitrescu will meet the public daily in the TIFF Lounge, the festival’s conversation space in Piața Unirii.
On June 17, the series of events dedicated to film industry professionals began, including Full Moon Creative Lab, Transilvania Talent Lab, Drama Room and Transilvania Pitch Stop.
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