Premiere, competition, retrospective, debate are just some of the key words of the Transilvania International Film Festival, which reaches its 23rd edition this year.
“Morometi 3”, preview at TIFF
In Cluj-Napoca, under the TIFF hat, films for adults and children, documentaries and art films, films for enthusiasts but also for nostalgics, duets between film and music, between film, gather for ten days and food, between the film and the debate. Of all, “Weekend Adevărul” has chosen only a few to whet your appetite for the movie. You can find the full program on tiff.ro, in the TIFF application for smartphones or in AperiTIFF (online or in physical format, for the lucky ones from Cluj).
Romanian Film Days
12 feature films and 10 short films are competing for the three trophies of the ZFR competition – best feature film, best debut and best short film. The selection also includes Romanian films awarded last year and others that will have their world premiere in Cluj-Napoca. After winning the Queer Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the film “Three Kilometers to the End of the World” (dir. Emanuel Pârvu) will have its national premiere at TIFF. Premiered at the beginning of the year in the Forum section of the Berlinale, “Big Week” (dir. Andrei Cohn) uses the short story “An Easter Torch” by IL Caragiale, which is the basis of the script, to tell a story about racism and antisemitism. The stars are the long-awaited “Grunters 3”, the much-loved “Don't wait too long from the end of the world” and the much-applauded “NASTY”.
Focus Japan
This year's edition pays homage to Japan, through an eclectic program that brings together reference films from the history of cinema, the most acclaimed recent productions, but also workshops and special programs. In addition to the eight films chosen on the fly, the program will be completed by a series of experiences supported by the Romanian-Japanese Studies Center: a MANGA workshop supported by the illustrator Anca Toma, an Origami workshop supported by the artist Alexandra Baranyi, an IKEBANA workshop supported by Andreea Georgescu. Demmers will give a demonstration of the Tea Ceremony.
Game On!
During the day, while the matches of the Romanian national team at the European Football Championship are expected, TIFF keeps us in the loop with the Game On section, which includes sports-themed films about historic matches, inspirational stories and extraordinary athletes. Among the six films, the focus is especially on “Copa 71”: football teams from England, Argentina, Mexico, France, Denmark and Italy gather in Ciudad de Mexico for an electrifying championship: at each match, the stadiums are filled with over 100,000 excited fans. But the championship is completely new in the era, because there are only women on the field. It's Copa 71, the Women's World Cup. But the authorities and football clubs around the world do not see the competition with good eyes, so it gradually disappears from the history of this sport.
International stars
The latest films starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sir Anthony Hopkins and the award-winning All of Us Strangers (dir. Andrew Haigh) are just some of the titles on the TIFF schedule. Danish superstar Mads Mikkelsen (“One More Row”, “The Hunt”, “Hannibal”) returns to the big screen in “The Promised Land” (dir. Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark, 2023), a historical drama inspired by real events, which premiered in Venice. Mikkelsen plays an ex-military man turned farmer in one of Denmark's most difficult agricultural regions. A complex production that builds a fascinating universe through script, image, acting and sets.
In “One Life” (dir. James Hawes, Great Britain, 2023), Sir Anthony Hopkins plays the role of a man who, during World War II, saved nearly 600 children, mostly Jews, from occupied Czechoslovakia Nazis, but who lived all the time under the burden of those he could not save in those dark years. The film is inspired by the life of Sir Nicholas “Nicky” Winton.
After the prize obtained at Cannes for the visceral “Les Misérables” in 2019, the French filmmaker Ladj Li proposes “Les Indésirables” (France, 2023), a new social drama set in the Parisian suburbs, a space of revolt and change. Following two characters – an activist and a young mayor – the film raises some of today's most divergent and important social themes in a powerful production.
Known to TIFF audiences for From Dawn to Dawn (2022), director Selman Nacar's latest film, Hesitation Wound, examines the Turkish legal system, focusing on the case of a female lawyer in a provincial town. Captivating and full of suspense, the film benefits from the outstanding performance of the actress Tülin Özen and the image signed by the Romanian DoP Tudor Panduru.
