Diversity Days, HBO documentaries and exhibitions
Exhibitions, concerts, debates with special guests and thematic films are some of the additional ingredients of the Trasilvania IFF 2015 program, featured in sections such HBO Day, EcoTIFF, Hungarian Day or the special program focused on 1989, 25 Years Later. In 2015, Diversity Days will take place between May 30 and June 4 and will encompass screenings, concerts and films about diversity.
HBO Day, dedicated to a long time partner of Transilvania IFF, will bring – on June 4 – four original documentaries such as the multi-awarded Toto and His Sisters (by Alexander Nanau), Chuck Norris vs. Communism, the story of the pirate video cassettes and a Sundance alumni, The Network (by Claudiu Mitcu), Bird Man (by Alexandru Mavrodineanu & Mihai Grecea) and Trading Germans (by Răzvan Săvescu). The Olive Kitteridge marathon (by Lisa Cholodenko), starring Frances McDormand, will be screened on June 4, at Cinema Arta, from 10am.
11 documentaries are featured in the What’s Up, Doc? section. Two years after the internationally acclaimed The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer brings to the screen The Look of Silence, focused on the victims of the Indonesian massacre of the 60s. A special guest is the controversial American financial consultant Martin Armstrong, the star of The Forecaster (by Marcus Vetter). Remake, Remix, Rip-Off (by Cem Kaya), tells the surprising story of Turkish cinema of the 60s and 70s, when film consumption was so big that it required local versions of Dracula, Tarzan, Rambo or Star Trek to be made; From Caligari to Hitler (by Rüdiger Suchsland) takes us on a journey through the most successful period of German cinema.
On June 5, EcoTIFF will present a series of ecologic documentaries: Virunga, a 2015 Academy Award nominee, talks about the powers that try to take over Congo. In Bikes Vs. Cars, activists are fighting for better, cleaner cities. From 9:45pm, the Film Warehouse will host a special screening for the cycling community of Cluj.
Hungarian Day (June 3) brings to Cluj famous guests and 6 premieres. Director György Pálfi returns to Cluj with his newest film, Free Fall, awarded in Karlovy Vary. Isaach de Bankolé, one of Jim Jarmusch's favorite actors will introduce Szabolcs Hajdu's fifth feature, Mirage, co-starring Dragoș Bucur and Răzvan Vasilescu. In Szerelempatak, the Hungarian ethnic community of a small Transylvanian village talks about life and love. At Casa TIFF, from 10.45pm, sZempöl Offchestra will hold an irresistible show of Balkan-theater-disco. Hungarian Day is presented in partnership with Magyar Filmunio, Hungarian National Film Fund, and the Balassi Institute from Bucharest.
The Diversity Days (May 30 - June 4) are organized in partnership with the Department of Interethnic Relations of the Government and they offer an extended program of films and events focused on various minorities: The Way Out – the fight for survival of a Roma couple, Koza – the story of a former Olympic box champion who returns into the ring, Aliyah DaDa – a Dada-style story of Romanian Jews, and a series of documentaries made by TVR Cluj for the 70th commemoration of the shutting down of the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps. On June 2, the TVR Cluj Studio in the Unirii Square will host the screening of this films and the debate “Remembering the Transylvanian Holocaust”, made for the 25th anniversary of the TV station. At the same time, on May 30 and 31, at the Banffy Castle, within the Weekend at the Castle program, kids will be invited to take part in various activities meant to preserve local traditions.
A new section this year is 25 Years Later, with five films about what 1989 brought into the lives of the people living in the former Communist Block: Angels of Revolution (by Alexei Fedorchenko), Dessau Dancers (by Jan Martin Scharf) or Pioneer Heroes (by Natalia Kudriashova), among them. At the same time, the Military House will host The Memory of Suffering exhibition – photos and testimonies of former political prisoners. This section is presented in partnership with the Romanian Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes (IICCMER).
Transilvania IFF will host four additional exhibitions: at the Art Museum, photos made by artist Silviu Gheție on the set of various famous Romanian films made between 2004 and 2014. In the hallway of Cinema Victoria, within the Mircea Daneliuc Retrospective, people will be able to admire the posters of his films, stills from the set and never before seen documents. Artist Gyula Havancsák will present his graphic design exhibition at Club Cypher, and the best photos of the past year by Mediafax, will be exhibited at TIFF Lounge.
