{"id":488963,"date":"2026-06-12T08:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488963\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T08:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:44:13","slug":"transilvania-film-festival-toasts-25-years-of-provocative-programming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/488963\/","title":{"rendered":"Transilvania Film Festival Toasts 25 Years of Provocative Programming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith memories of Cristian Mungiu\u2019s second Palme d\u2019Or<\/a>, for the Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve-starring \u201cFjord<\/a>,\u201d still fresh just weeks after the director\u2019s latest Cannes triumph, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to recall a time when Romanian filmmakers weren\u2019t feted on world cinema\u2019s biggest stages. Unless, that is, you asked the organizers of the Transilvania Intl. Film Festival, whose 25th edition takes place June 12 \u2013 21 in the medieval city of Cluj.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the festival debuted in 2002, Romania was largely a backwater in the eyes of even the most ardently global cinephiles. It would be three years before Cristi Puiu\u2019s audacious black comedy \u201cThe Death of Mr. Lazarescu<\/a>\u201d would herald the arrival of a new cinematic movement in Cannes, and two more before Mungiu\u2019s \u201c4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days<\/a>\u201d would win the director his first Palme. Until then, the Romanian New Wave had yet to register so much as a ripple, while the teetering domestic movie industry was on the brink of collapse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo Romanian films. No proper infrastructure. Cinemas were going down. No state involvement, financially,\u201d recalls TIFF artistic director Mihai Chirilov. It was in part to bolster local moviemakers that festival founder and president Tudor Giurgiu decided to launch Romania\u2019s first international film event, both \u201cto offer better exposure to our films and to bring decision-makers and use the festival as a launchpad for new projects,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, the ambitions on the eve of opening night were modest, to say the least. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a five-year plan,\u201d says Chirilov. \u201cWe just wanted to survive the seven days of the first edition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back two decades later, Giurgiu, laughing, suggests the first TIFF was arguably \u201cthe best-organized edition\u201d ever mounted. \u201cIt was disciplined, rigorous,\u201d he says. \u201cTwo screening rooms, seven days, perfect size.\u201d As opening night approached, Giurgiu and Chirilov debated programming details on the overnight train from Bucharest, bumping along in a sleeper compartment with dual bunk beds. \u201cIt was very romantic,\u201d Giurgiu says.<\/p>\n

\n\tPointing to the highlights of that first edition \u2014 including David Lynch\u2019s \u201cMulholland Drive,\u201d Michael Haneke\u2019s \u201cThe Piano Teacher\u201d and Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s \u201cSpirited Away,\u201d which are among the films screening this week during a \u201c25 Years Later\u201d retrospective \u2014 Chirilov insists he and Giurgiu \u201cwere crazy enough to not think about consequences, hence the really edgy programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was really shocking and provocative,\u201d he says. \u201cWe came with a lot of electroshocks. We didn\u2019t give a fuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cThe Death of Mr. Lazarescu\u201d ushered in the Romanian New Wave.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Ji.hlava Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tThat maverick spirit is what continues to animate the Transilvania Film Festival<\/a> 25 years later, with Chirilov insisting he \u201cstill want[s] to keep this sense of freedom, of surprise that we had in the early years.\u201d \u201cThe challenge is not to lose that innocence from the very first edition,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was all or nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival kicks off June 12 with \u201c3 Days in September,\u201d the latest from Giurgiu \u2014 a veteran filmmaker alongside his TIFF duties \u2014 following its world premiere earlier this year in Rotterdam. Centered around a daring, 65-minute single take, the film is a real-time portrait of a woman\u2019s psychological unraveling \u2014 and eventual renewal \u2014 after her fianc\u00e9\u2019s mistress crashing her wedding. Giurgiu\u2019s previous films include\u00a0the documentary \u201cNasty<\/a>,\u201d a rollicking portrait of the \u201970s Romanian tennis bad boy Ilie N\u0103stase, which premiered at Cannes, and \u201cFreedom,\u201d a tense drama set during the Romanian revolution, which won the audience award for best Romanian film at the 2023 Transilvania Film Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe main competition this year features \u201ca mix as polarizing as the world it comes from,\u201d according to Chirilov, with 12 titles competing for the Transilvania Trophy. Among them are Kazakh director Aitore Zholdaskali\u2019s scintillating, hard-boiled debut \u201cSicko,\u201d a domestic box-office sensation following its Rotterdam premiere; Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr.\u2019s groundbreaking, semi-autobiographical period drama \u201cMy Father\u2019s Shadow,<\/a>\u201d the first film from the West African nation to premiere in Cannes; Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani\u2019s long-awaited debut \u201cTitanic Ocean<\/a>,\u201d coming off its Un Certain Regard premiere; and Dutch debutante\u00a0Muriel d\u2019Ansembourg\u2019s edgy portrait of the porn industry \u201cTruly Naked<\/a>,\u201d which premiered in Berlin\u2019s Perspectives competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOther highlights of this year\u2019s festival include \u201cMinotaur<\/a>,\u201d the latest from two-time Academy Award nominee Andrei Zvyagintsev (\u201cLeviathan,\u201d \u201cLoveless\u201d), the Grand Prix winner at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival. Prolific homegrown provocateur Radu Jude (\u201cBad Luck Banging or Loony Porn\u201d), meanwhile, arrives with his Directors\u2019 Fortnight premiere \u201cDiary of a Chambermaid,\u201d as well as last year\u2019s vulgar vampire riff \u201cDracula<\/a>,\u201d which debuted in Locarno. Also playing is\u00a0Pedro Almod\u00f3var\u2019s latest, \u201cBitter Christmas<\/a>,\u201d a tragicomedy from the legendary auteur, which vied for the Palme d\u2019Or this year in Cannes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cTitanic Ocean\u201d competes for the Transilvania Trophy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTitanic Ocean Courtesy of Homemade Films<\/p>\n

\n\tThat film, as well as the classic Romanian comedy \u201cOperation Monster,\u201d directed by Manole Marcus, will screen at the open-air cinema at B\u00e1nffy Castle in Bon\u021bida, on the outskirts of Cluj. An evocative backdrop for one of the festival\u2019s most anticipated events each year, the \u201cWeekend at the Castle\u201d showcases how TIFF has capitalized on its success in Cluj to \u201cbuild an entire network\u201d of screenings, events and cultural happenings that have \u201chelped expand the festival in a very organic manner,\u201d according to Chirilov, while allowing it to stick to its core principles \u2014 above all the conviction of who the festival is meant to serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are an audience festival,\u201d says Chirilov. \u201cWithout an audience, you don\u2019t exist. [Transilvania] still has an audience that wants to be provoked. They don\u2019t come here just to be patted on their shoulders. Most people go to festivals to find what they expect, to be in a safe space, in a comfort zone. TIFF is not a comfort zone. It\u2019s not a safe place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMaybe it\u2019s not the right thing to say, but I don\u2019t want the festival to be a safe space,\u201d he continues. \u201cAnd this is hard to do nowadays. You have to work a bit harder to keep your subversive sense, to fight conformism, to fight this global sanitization of film festivals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 25th Transilvania Intl. Film Festival runs June 12 \u2013 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With memories of Cristian Mungiu\u2019s second Palme d\u2019Or, for the Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve-starring \u201cFjord,\u201d still fresh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,225909],"class_list":["post-488963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-transilvania-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}