The tenth edition of Transilvania International Film Festival invites the audience in Cluj to see, in addition to the impressive number of high-quality films, various concerts and unmissable exhibitions, a series of theatre shows under the title Theatre at TIFF.
Directors, actors and plays by important playwrights will give a series of performances whose themes and mise en scène intermingle with seventh art.
The event-show of this theatre programme is represented by Autobahn, by Neil LaBute. Between June 6-10, the audience in Cluj will have the possibility to experiment a completely exceptional theatre show. The actress and director Mihaela Sârbu challenges you, through Autobahn, to a different kind of theatrical experience. A play in a car, a genuine theatrical road-movie. More than staging a play, an artistic and socio-cultural experiment. A funny and voyeuristic journey by car, accelerated by unsettling dramas and dark comedy moments. A break from the usual dramatic convention that all theatre shows entail. Starting on June 6, for 5 consecutive evenings, the 6 cars in which Neil LaBute's one-act plays take place will leave at 9.30 p.m. from the parking lot in from of the Hungarian Theatre heading towards various locations in Cluj. Each car accommodates 3 spectators, witnesses of the story unfolding between the two protagonists in the front seats. You can be one of the 90 spectators who will have the chance to experiment a whole new approach to a theatre play. All in all, what can be more appropriate then to shut yourself in a car in order to force a discussion or to make silence seem tangible? This situation has been widely used in film, but playwright Neil LaBute is maybe the first one to transform this situation in a theatrical event.
In 9 degrees in Paris, director Peter Kerek tries to answer the question: “How much film can theatre take, and vice-versa?”, mixing in a coherent way theatre with film - the theatrical monologue with video recording. Actress Alina Berzunţeanu gives a phenomenal one-woman show, playing a 30-something year old woman who, one evening, a few days before Christmas, is getting ready to leave her family for good - her husband and her 5-year old boy. The show is scheduled on the first day of TIFF, on June 3, at 7.00 p.m., at the Hungarian Theatre.
On the second day of the festival, June 4, at 8.00 p.m. at Libertatea Plant, within the Theatre at TIFF programme, the public is invited at Shoah. The Survival, by Andreea Iacob - a multi-media theatre installation. Inspired by Ioana Cosman's “Depositions on life and death. Holocaust in Northern Transylvania” and “Shoah in Northern Transylvania”, Shoah. The Survival is a visual and theatrical essay, which is inspired by the stories of the Holocaust survivors in Northern Transylvania. Using these stories as a starting point, Andreea Iacob created a series of theatrical installations on survival, on us, on us and the others.
Saviana Stănescu's play, Polanski, Polanski attracts the attention of both theatre lovers, and film buffs. Polanski, Polanski explores the psychic and emotional turmoil of the famous film director Roman Polanski, by showing three crucial moments of his life: desire, escape, punishment. This sur-corporal multimedia exploration, played by Grant Neale, comprises both cinema and theatre aspects and combines the genres of psychological theatre with monologue. The performance will be played on June 5, at 8.00 p.m., at the Hungarian Theatre.
Ich Clown, by Vera Ion and Sorin Poama, starts from the authors' personal experience, the moment when they decided to leave Romania. Adi is a young Romanian actor, with no job, money or future plans. After his girlfriend dumps him, Adi decides to do something to change his life. Together with his friends, William and Dragoș, he plans to see Europe, all three dressed as clown. Ich Clown will play on June 6, at 8.00 p.m., at the Hungarian Theatre.
The forth show hosted by the Hungarian Theatre is Roșia Montană - on the physical and political border, by Ștefan Peca, Gianina Cărbunariu and Andreea Vălean. Declared “the best show” at the Romanian Dramaturgy Festival (FDR) in Timișoara, Roșia Montană is an ample discussion on the world we live in, on the subject of morality in contemporary society, on the polarization of this society on one sigle subject, on the way in which mass-media chooses to reflect (or not) this phenomenon, on poverty, vulnerability and searching for solutions to solve this state of things. The show can be seen on June 7, at 7.00 p.m.
The seventh show included in the theatre programme at TIFF 2011 is Mine Flowers, by Székely Csaba. The story takes pace in a mining village in Transylvania, which attracts public attention through a specific peculiarity: an inflow of suicides, apparently unexplained. Singling out an episode in the life of a few of the villagers, the show brings off a staggering analysis of the functioning mechanism of small, rural communities, shattering any possible idyllic image on peaceful country life. The frustration of a failed life is staged in an insanely comical style, with strong characters and subtle, perfectly balanced direction. Mine Flowers will be played at Fabrica de Pensule on June 11, at 8.30 p.m.
The tickets for Autobahn, Mine Flowers and Shoah. The survival can be found at TIFF Ticketing Points, starting May 30. The price of a ticket is 15 RON, with the exception of Autobahn, which costs 70 RON. The tickets for Roșia Montană - on the physical and political border, Ich Clown, Polanski, Polanski and 9 Degrees in Paris can be found at the Hungarian Theatre box-office.
