This weekend, the Transilvania International Film Festival kicked off its 18th edition in Cluj, Romania. This year, it’s another star-studded event with both Nicolas Cage and celebrated French filmmaker Michel Gondry making appearances in the festival’s opening couple of days.
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Cage is here to receive the Transilvania Trophy for Special Contribution to World Cinema, while Gondry is having all of his feature films showcased, including The Science Of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind, and perhaps his most celebrated film work Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, all playing over the festival’s ten days. Both have also offered masterclasses in their respective arts, talking with members of the public and festival press on both Saturday and Sunday, Cage delivering 90 minutes of absorbing chatter yesterday morning. Cage also introduced his 1990s classic actioner Face/Off to TIFF audiences on a sodden Saturday night in the main square.
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It’s my second time at this growing festival. I love it here, My last time was back in 2017 where I was lucky enough to catch a number of gems for the first time, including Sebastian Lelio’s superb A Fantastic Woman, Francis Lee’s stunning God’s Own Country and Ben Young’s captivating, and indeed utterly terrifying horror thriller Hounds Of Love (named Tortura here). That year, Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver was the surprise film, wrapping up a festival-going experience that I will never forget.
I return two years on and lots have changed. It’s a delight to see this festival grow and in 2019 more films and more strands are on offer across the many picture houses across town. Aside from the two big names I’ve already mentioned, celebrated German director Fatih Akin brings three of his movies to TIFF, his 2004 Berlin Golden Bear winner Head On, The Edge Of Heaven, a multi-award winner (including best screenplay at Cannes), as well as his latest, and also possibly his most divisive, The Golden Glove, which we caught and reviewed at Berlin earlier this year. The late Agnès Varda also has a trio of films playing at the festival; Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond and Faces Places.
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The opening film this year is Parking – the most recent movie of director Tudor Giurgiu, whilst Denys Arcand’s The Fall Of The American Empire will close the festival on 9th June.
Ralph Fiennes’ The White Crow will play here in the Supernova strand, along with the likes of Jong-bin Yoon’s The Spy Gone North, Richard Billingham’s already applauded Ray & Liz, Ivan T. Tverdovsky’s Jumpman – about a teenage boy who is immune to pain, using his gift to extort cash from wealthy people on the streets of Moscow, and also writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away.
Cluj’s Unirii Square will play host to a number of high-profile movies, including Sebastian Llio’s latest Gloria Bell, Paolo Virzi’s Magical Nights, The Realm, a political piece from Spain and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and also Pedro Almodovar’s Cannes Palme d’Or nominated Pain and Glory.
There’s also a special screening of Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy, a favourite from last year’s Director’s Fortnight at Cannes with Nicolas Cage in attendance at the city’s famous Bontida Castle.
You can find more info on this year’s festival at the end of the link. We’ll be bringing you more coverage as the week goes on.
