After a near-miraculous achievement of mounting two-person versions in the midst of a global pandemic, the organizing team at the Transylvania Film Festival hoped to return to normalcy this year – a hope that was soon dashed when Russian troops invaded neighbors. Ukraine, February 24
The tone and tone of this year’s event quickly changed gears, says TIFF founder Tudor Giorgiu, as the celebration leadership seems to strike an uncertain balance. “Many people’s lives have been turned upside down. We have to be sympathetic and pay attention to what is happening there and try to reflect on this tragedy happening in Ukraine through the festive program, “says Giorgiu. Diversity.
With the TIFF launching its 21st edition on June 17-26, the war in Ukraine is coming to an end in the fourth month, a period that has dramatically disrupted life in its Eastern European neighborhood. In the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and in the historic medieval city of Cluj, which hosts the festival, local NGOs have spent resources over the past four months to help the arrival of Ukrainian refugees.
The war has also had a significant impact on preparations for this year’s festival, as the immediate economic consequences in Europe – along with the fear of a prolonged recession – have affected many fundraising agencies to help finance the long-running Transylvania incident. . “Ukraine has found it difficult to cope with all the side effects of the crisis,” admits Giorgiu.
The festival has doubled its efforts to support war-displaced Ukrainians, providing free access to Ukrainian citizens in a number of films, including Ukrainian director Dimitro Sukholitsky-Sobchuk’s “Pamphir” coming from its world premiere in Cannes. Participating in the Fortnight section of the directors and the main competition of TIFF.
A special charity event will be organized around the screening of Oleh Sentsov’s “Rhino”, including all donations to the emergency fund for filmmakers supporting Ukrainian filmmakers displaced by the war. Other cultural events throughout the week will highlight Ukrainian music and food, as Transylvania looks to support and celebrate its eastern neighbor.
Nearly 200 feature-length and short films will be screened at this year’s Transylvania Film Festival – an increase from the two previous, slim-down epidemic editions, but a slight decline from 2019, mainly attributed to rising license fees by TIFF artistic director Mihai Chirilov. With the relaxation of health and hygiene protocols in Romania, the festival has returned to its full range of indoor and outdoor venues. And after a deliberate attempt to program Phil-Good films in 2021 – the programming team acknowledged that its epidemic-weary viewers were looking for a pick-me-up – Chirilov says Transylvania has also reclaimed its old painful feeling. “We decided to go back to our normal selves – to go back to the problem movies,” he says.
The festival kicks off on June 17 with Philis Nagy’s abortion rights drama “Call Jane”, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and competed in Berlin. Among the films competing for the Transylvania Trophy, one of the 12 first- or second-time directors to be awarded at TIFF’s main competition, Vincent Mel Cardona’s 2021 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Award-winning “Magnetic Beats”; Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s “Beautiful Creature”, which debuted on the Strand in Panorama, Berlinel; And three premieres of Sundance from this year’s celebration in Park City: Monia Chokri’s “Babycaster”, Alejandro Loeza Grissi’s “Utama” and Laszlo Suja and Anna Nams’ “Gentle.”
One notable programming change this year is the long-running documentary Strand What’s Up, Doc? Is in, which will be the first competitive segment. It is not only the growing relevance of genre in the contemporary film landscape, but also the way in which the permutations and mutations of form reflect the way we view and consume the world around us.
“This new type of documentary flirts more with fiction, deliberately breaks the rules and indulges in the luxury of slander and conspiracy,” says Chirilov. “At the risk of embarrassing purists, almost anything goes on What’s Up, Doc?” Why? “
Throughout the week, open discussions will be held with films touching on hot-button issues such as the abortion rights in Nagy’s “Call Jane”, the abortion rights in John P. Matuszinski’s “Leave No Trace”, and the crackdown on dissent. Daniel Rohr’s “Navalny” in Putin’s Russia. Chirilov emphasized that efforts to “check the box” by addressing today’s issues were not in vain, but part of the festival’s long-held desire to “encourage discussion, debate, dialogue.”
“We live in a world where people are used to thinking in black and white, and no one listens to anyone’s point of view,” he continued. “From the beginning, TIFF was a platform for dialogue – encouraging to hear every voice, encouraging conflict of ideas. That’s the real spirit of celebration.”
That sentiment extends to the programming team’s decision to resist calls for a boycott of Russian films. Among the contest entries is Lado Kwatania’s psychological thriller “The Execution”, one of many Russian titles that will be screened in Transylvania. “We don’t believe in canceling people. We don’t believe in shutting down voices,” says Chirilov. “We think negotiations can resolve more than cancellation.”
Giurgiu says the festival leadership did not take its decision lightly, as the TIFF eventually followed the lead of the Cannes Film Festival and included Venice and Karlovy Vary – who have banned official Russian representatives from allowing individual filmmakers to participate.
“We believe it would be nonsense to boycott, for example, young, independent Russian filmmakers, or other films we want to profile,” says Giorgiu, quoting director Natasha Merkulova and Alexei, quoting “Captain Volkonogov Escape.” Chupov, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. “We are not lawyers …[having] Radical attitude of canceling all films, all filmmakers. I think we need to be more rational. “
The decision, coupled with the DNA of a celebration whose provocative and iconic programming has long championed artistic expression, was outside Romania’s tumultuous post-communist era, when civil liberties and artistic freedom were far from guaranteed.
More than two decades later, the festival faces other dangers – both practical and existential. Global streaming services have boosted the exhibition industry, and film festivals such as Transylvania have undermined the filming experience. The Ukraine war has cast a long shadow over Europe and the rest of the world. And with the recent headlines fading, as the coronavirus epidemic enters its third year, new versions are continuing efforts to return to pre-epidemic life – a status quo that will never return.
Yet such challenges only emphasize the importance of individual events that, to some degree, have always been an act of faith in our desire – even the need – to come together. “Festivals are a celebration of cinema, an amazing opportunity for writers and artists to meet their audiences,” says Giurgiu. “I like the role of the festival [in the future] It will be necessary to show certain types of lost movies on large streaming platforms.
“I’m convinced that a festival like Transylvania will grow in importance not only in terms of size – for filmmakers, but also for audiences. It will be a unique moment this year when you can find those gems, when you can meet your heroes.”