TIFF 12 - 2013

The 12th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival took place in Cluj-Napoca from May 31 to June 9, 2013. The festival brought together 190 films from 53 countries, including 155 feature films, and almost 400 screenings over 10 days. More than 62,000 paying viewers attended the screenings, while the total number of participants, including special events, concerts, workshops, free screenings and the main open-air venues, exceeded 120,000.

The edition opened in Piața Unirii / Ursus Open Air with the Romanian premiere of Los amantes pasajeros / I’m So Excited, Pedro Almodóvar’s comedy. TIFF 2013 continued to expand the festival’s presence throughout the city, through venues such as Casa TIFF, the Cluj Art Museum, Bánffy Castle in Bonțida and Mănăștur Open Air, turning Cluj into a vibrant circuit of screenings, concerts, exhibitions and meetings with guests.

The TIFF 2013 image campaign brought together Cristi Puiu and Luminița Gheorghiu, two essential names of contemporary Romanian cinema. In addition to the festival’s official visual, Cristi Puiu created a series of trailers starring Luminița Gheorghiu: 10 fragments which, together, formed a story and were screened one per day during the festival. For Ursus Open Air in Piața Unirii, another 10 special trailers were produced and screened in the same rhythm. The concept of the campaign revolved around waiting, the relationship with the other, and spaces that have become part of cinema’s imaginary — the railway platform, the car, the road.

Among the edition’s special events was Weekend at the Castle, organized on June 1 and 2 at Bánffy Castle in Bonțida, a family-oriented program featuring open-air screenings, concerts, children’s activities and culinary events. The program included a screening of the silent film Blancanieves, accompanied by a Spanish guitar concert, as well as a screening of Jean Mihail’s Manasse, with live accompaniment by the British band Minima.

TIFF 2013 also featured a strong music program, with concerts by The Tiger Lillies, DakhaBrakha, Sofa Surfers, Ioan Pop and Grupul Iza, as well as cine-concerts such as Earth, Alexander Dovzhenko’s masterpiece accompanied live by DakhaBrakha, and Bagdad Fantaisie, performed over the silent film The Thief of Bagdad.

The edition also developed the festival’s educational and professional areas. EducaTIFF reached its fifth edition, with screenings for students, cinema lessons, film criticism seminars and animation workshops, while Transilvania Talent Lab held its second edition, bringing together young people passionate about film and new media for seminars, masterclasses and meetings with industry professionals. The program also included 10 for FILM, a project dedicated to promoting theatre actors within the film industry.

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