TIFF.10 - 2011

The tenth edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival took place in Cluj-Napoca from June 3 to June 12, 2011. The anniversary edition brought more than 700 Romanian and international guests and 220 feature and short films to the city. Starting in 2011, the festival also became part of the circuit of festivals accredited by FIAPF, an important step in its international recognition.

For the second consecutive year, Piața Unirii was one of the festival’s central venues, hosting the opening ceremony and transforming the heart of the city into a spectacular open-air screening space. The edition opened with Potiche, the comedy directed by François Ozon, while the opening night also featured Herbert’s Dream, a street performance by the French company Compagnie des Quidams, a visual moment built around light, oversized characters and a fairytale atmosphere.

The TIFF 2011 image campaign was built around an ironic parallel between film and football, with Corneliu Porumboiu at its centre, presented as the “number 10” of TIFF’s track record. The official visual showed Porumboiu wearing Romania’s national team shirt, with the number 10 — a reference both to the anniversary edition and to the director’s status as the only filmmaker to have won the Transilvania Trophy twice up to that point. The campaign also included a special teaser in which Porumboiu was photographed from behind, wearing the number 10 shirts of Cluj’s two football teams, CFR and “U”.

The official trailer of the edition, directed by Marian Crișan, parodied sports talk shows and drew on the world of 12:08 East of Bucharest. Actors Teo Corban, Ion Sapdaru and Mircea Andreescu returned to their roles, this time in a sports talk show called RetrospecTIFF, debating whether or not there had been a penalty-box foul, while Corneliu Porumboiu joined by phone to deliver the verdict.

Among the special events of the edition were the first 3D screenings in TIFF history, hosted by Cinema Florin Piersic: Pina, Wim Wenders’ documentary dedicated to choreographer Pina Bausch, and Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams. The festival also included workshops and masterclasses with international industry guests such as Thomas Mai, Wolf Bosse, Cristi Puiu, Valdís Óskarsdóttir, Marin Karmitz and Michael York.

TIFF 2011 also expanded its complementary events through programs such as TIFFFashion, Theatre at TIFF, EcoTIFF, EducaTIFF, Let’s Go Digital!, AlternaTIFF and the TIFF Lounge meetings. TIFFFashion brought the Continental Hotel in Piața Unirii back into the city’s cultural circuit, hosting Dressing the Story: Film & Theatre Costumes by Doina Levintza, as well as an exhibition of Romanian film posters created by graphic artist Klára Tamás.