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TRANSILVANIA 2019

The 18th edition of the Transilvania IFF is poised to kick off

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- Ten Romanian films are competing for a range of awards in the Romanian Days sidebar

The 18th edition of the Transilvania IFF is poised to kick off
Parking by Tudor Giurgiu

Romania’s biggest film event, the Transilvania International Film Festival, kicks off today (31 May-9 June, Cluj-Napoca). This will be the gathering’s 18th edition, a number that has prompted many in the festival’s team to talk of maturity and reminisce about the times when the TIFF was just an infant. More than 400 screenings of approximately 180 features are scheduled to take place over the next ten days, with Tudor Giurgiu’s new film Parking [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu
film profile
]
 set to officially open this year’s edition tonight in the vast, welcoming (and very possibly rainy) Unirii Square in the centre of the city.

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Besides Nicolas Cage, who is the main guest at this edition, French director Michel Gondry is also expected to introduce 100% Michel Gondry, a retrospective including all his features, but also his programme Home Movie Factory. Ten new French films are being shown in the Focus France sidebar, and this year, all three directors in the 3X3 sidebar are European: Agnés VardaFatih Akin and Veit Helmer.

As every year, the most eagerly awaited sidebar is probably Romanian Days, with a selection boasting the newest local features. There are only three films being shown as world premieres: Andrei Cohn’s Arrest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Cohn
film profile
]
Radu Dragomir’s Mo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Dragomir
film profile
]
, and Mihai Mincan and Claudiu Mitcu’s documentary Emigrant Blues. Four of the competing films may potentially win Best First Feature: Gabi Virginia Şarga and Cătălin Rotaru’s Thou Shalt Not Kill [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Marius Olteanu’s Monsters. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marius Olteanu
film profile
]
(which is also duking it out in the main competition – see the news), Nora Agapi’s documentary Timebox [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and the aforementioned MoAna Lungu’s One and a Half Prince [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ana Lungu
film profile
]
Anca Damian’s Moon Hotel Kabul [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Radu Muntean’s Alice T. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Muntean
film profile
]
and Mona Nicoară and Dana Bunescu's The Distance Between Me and Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
are also locking horns.

Other films, some of them already selected or awarded at bigger festivals, will be shown out of competition. Among them are Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile
]
Radu Jude’s “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and the winner of this year’s Gopo Award for Best Romanian Film, Stere Gulea’s Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

The award winners will be announced during a gala on 8 June.

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