Director Daniele Luchetti to Receive Special Award for Contribution to World Cinema at TIFF.23

Italian director Daniele Luchetti is a special guest at the 23rd edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (June 14-24, 2024, Cluj-Napoca). Regarded as one of the most important contemporary Italian filmmakers, he will be celebrated in the 3x3 section and will receive the Special Award for Contribution to World Cinema.

Daniele Luchetti will be present at the screening of Trust (Confidenza, 2024) on Saturday, June 15, at 7PM, at the Student's House of Culture - https://tiff.ro/en/festival/2024/trust 

Before making his debut with It’s Happening Tomorrow (Domani accadrà, Special Mention, Cannes, 1988), a comedy about two robbers who receive different chances at rehabilitation, Daniele Luchetti acted in several productions and was the assistant of Nanni Moretti, who then played the role of a corrupt minister who hires an idealistic spokesman in The Yes Man (Il portaborse, 1990). This political drama premiered in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival and was considered prophetic for the huge "Mani Pulite" corruption scandal that destabilized Italian politics.

School (La Scuola, 1995), which presents the destinies of youngsters at a suburban high school, was his first adaptation of the works of the writer Domenico Starnone, who then became his close collaborator. At a time when critics believed that Italian cinema had lost its vitality, Daniele Luchetti managed to contradict them with My Brother Is An Only Child (Mio fratello è figlio unico, 2007), a story about two brothers who couldn't be any more different, yet who love the same woman. In the throes of youth, they choose to adhere to two diametrically opposed political ideologies – one becomes a communist and the other a fascist.

His most recent films are The Ties (Lacci, 2020, based on Domenico Starnone's novel of the same name), a drama about a marriage crisis that opened that year’s Venice Film Festival, and Trust (Confidenza, 2024), whose script was penned by the same Starnone, while the music was signed by Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead. Its lead role is played by Elio Germano, who also starred in My Brother Is An Only Child, and whose track record includes acting trophies at Cannes, the Berlinale and the David di Donatello awards.

With Trust, Daniele Luchetti enters the realm of psychological thrillers, but does so in his own way. As he stated in an interview, "I really like suspense movies and I made one using the things I think we should be afraid of. Children believe in monsters, I believe in the monstrosity of people, in the ability of people to hurt others, and primarily, in this case, in the ability of people to hurt themselves.”

Last but not least, Luchetti directed one season of the miniseries My Brilliant Friend (2022) based on Elena Ferrante’s phenomenal novels, and Raffa (2023), a miniseries about Italian pop legend Raffaella Carrà .

In the 3x3 section, TIFF.23 audiences will be able to watch three of the director's films: School, The Ties, and Trust.

Partner: Istituto Italiano di Cultura Bucarest

Tickets are available for sale online - http://tiff.eventbook.ro