During its 10 editions, Transilvania IFF proudly introduced to its audience many prestigious guests from both Romanian and international cinema, honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award starring in various master classes and special events throughout the 10 days of the festival.
In 2012, Geraldine Chaplin, one of the distinct figures in the world cinema of the past decades, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, along with the French film director Claude Lelouch and the well-known Hungarian actress Mari Törőcsik.
A series of master classes will be held by Transilvania IFF guests. Michel Ciment, film critic and Honorary President of FIPRESCI will host a master class entitled Stanley Kubrick, Between Reason and Passion, as well as a presentation of the notorious magazine Positif, celebrating 60 years of existence.
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, one of the most significant directors of the new wave in Thai cinema, is another guest of Transilvania IFF 2012. The public will be able to see in Cluj Napoca the filmmaker’s recent film Headshot, one of the highlights of the new festival section Gods and Men. Moreover, the public will be able to meet Pen-Ek Ratanaruang within Transilvania Talent Lab framework of a master class.
Christine Vachon, one of the most important independent film producers in the USA, founder of the legendary Killer Films production company, will lead another master class at TIFF 2012. Ranking among her recent achievements is the HBO 5 episode mini-series Mildred Pierce, which will be displayed in a marathon screening during the11th edition of the festival. Tribute Killer Films will be a special section included in this year’s program at TIFF, a showcase of the films produced by Vachon’s company.
A special event will be held by Jan Harlan, executive producer of some of Stanley Kubrick’s films. During the 11th edition of the festival, he will showcase the filmmaker’s project that has never become a film, Napoleon. This epic feature imagined by Kubrick at the end of the ‘60s was meant to be partially filmed in Romania. The Romanian cinema-goers will be able to find out more about Kubrick’s monumental project in a meeting with Jan Harlan, where he will present the encyclopaedic tome Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made, released as a limited edition of 1000 copies.
Furthermore, one of the most important figures of European festivals Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlin International Film Festival comes to Transilvania IFF for the first time. Kosslick is one of the most active film supporters and promoters, with a career that spans over 30 years.
In addition, this year’s list of foreign film industry guests includes names such as Roberto Olla, director at Eurimages, Mike Maggiore, curator at Film Forum – New York's leading movie-house for independent films– or Eran Kolirin, director of the famous Israeli film A Band’s Visit, selected this year in the Transilvania IFF competition with his sophomore cinematic effort, The Exchange.
The Official Competition and Romanian Days Jury will bring to Cluj Napoca some important film industry representatives. Among the figures who will decide the fate of Transilvania Trophy are the director Samuel Maoz, awarded with the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival for Lebanon (2009), Kjartan Sveinsson, member of Island’s post-rock band Sigur Rós and composer of the film score for Volcano, awarded with the Best Director Award at the Transilvania IFF(2011 edition), Mark Adams, film critic at the prestigious „Screen International” and Mike Downey, producer, CEO of Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) and member of the European Film Academy board.
The Romanian Days Award - Best Feature will be decided by Michel Ciment, Guilhem Caillard, film critic for the Canadian magazine Panorama-cinéma and programming coordinator for the Cinemania Film Festival in Montreal and Vincenzo Rossini, artistic director of the Milano Film Festival.
