Eighteen years after its first edition, the Transilvania International Film Festival celebrates Romanian filmmking successes through a series of screenings and special events. Hundreds of Romanian industry guests will come to Cluj between May 31—June 9 to meet TIFF audiences and festival guests from all over the world.
Thursday, June 6, actor Pavel Bartoșwill make his directorial debut in the Unirii Square Open Air cinema with his short comedy Romanian Tradition, based on a real story revolving around a village wedding. Notable cast members Alexandru Papadopol, Elvira Deatcu, Alexandru Ion, Vladimir Purdel, Ruxandra Maniu, and Marius Damian will be in attendance. The short will precede the screening of Moromeții 2/Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time, which itself will be screened in the presence of beloved actors Horațiu Mălăele, Dana Dogaru, Iosif Paștina, Gheorghe Visu, alongside director Stere Gulea.
TIFF continues to celebrate film professionals whose faces may not light up the big screen, but whose creative efforts are essential to the success of any production, so at this year’s edition, OanaPăunescu, one of the most prolific film costume designers in Romania, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Having started her film career in the 1980s, she founded Castel Film, one of the largest Romanian production houses, in 1992, together with Vlad Păunescu. As film production in Romania took off, she began collaborating with foreign directors who came to shoot on location in Romania, designing costumes for characters inhabited by the likes of Elizabeth Hurley, Nicole Kidman, Wesley Snipes, Jude Law, or Jean-Claude Van Damme. She received two Gopo Awards nominations: one in 2009 for her costumes for Horațiu Mălăele’s Nunta Mută/ Silent Wedding and one in 2015 for Dan Pița’sKira Kiralina. Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog is her most recent Romanian project.Between May 31–June 8, Păunescu’s designs can be seen at the Cluj Art Museum in the EPICexhibition, a symbolic journey generated by thousands of hours of work used as an escape into an unreal dream world. Finally, Thursday, June 6, Păunescu will attend the screening of the 2017 sci-fi thriller What Happened to Monday (dir. Tommy Wirkola), featuring her designs for Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close, and Willem Dafoe. Following the screening, she will share her vision on the complex process of film costume design with the audience gathered at the Arta cinema.
On Saturday, June 1, the documentary Maria, inima României / Romania’s English Queen, produced by John Florescu, will be screened in the presence of the filmmaking team. The film is dedicated to one of the most important women in the country’s history and reveals little-known details from the life of the beloved queen: footage shot during World War II, restored and colorized by the best experts in the field, as well as the queen’s voice and diaries alongside testimonies from those who knew her.
Straight from the red carpet in Cannes, director Corneliu Porumboiu comes to TIFF together with the rest of the team of La Gomera / The Whistlers.Marius Olteanu’s Monștri./ Monsters., which is included in both the Offical and the Romanian Days competitions, comes to Cluj accomandied by its team, including cast members Cristi Popa, Judith State, Șerban Pavlu, andDorina Lazăr.At its world premiere at the TIFF Opening Gala, Tudor Giurgiu’s Parking will introduce its filmmaking team, including actors Mihai Smarandache, Carmen Florescu, and Erzsébet Fülöp, as well as writer Marin Mălaicu-Hondrari, author of the bestselling novel on which the screenplay is based. Then, the world premiere of MO,Radu Dragomir’s directorial debut, willalso feature lead actor Dana Rogoz. Finally, director Bogdan Mirică will come to Cluj with all the main actors of the UMBRE/ SHADOWS series to present the first episode of the upcoming third season on Thursday, June 6.
