The 21st edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival will take place between June 17-26, in Cluj-Napoca.

The public will get to discover some of the latest productions, showcased at international festivals and presented in national premiere, but also reunite with classic masterpieces, meet with filmmakers and special guests, and attend a variety of special events.

The opening film of this year’s edition is Call Jane (dir. Phyllis Nagy), whereas the Closing Ceremony will see the screening of Heart Of Oak (dir. Laurent Charbonnier, Michel Seydoux).

One of the highlights of TIFF2022 is Focus Israel, a program made possible with the support of the Embassy of Israel in Romania.

The section includes titles that have gained international praise, such as:

• Ahed’s Knee (dir. Nadav Lapid) – winner of the Jury Prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival;
• Let It Be Morning (dir. Eran Kolirin) – 7 wins including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 2021 Awards of the Israeli Film Academy;
• I Am Not (dir. Tomer Heymann) – Best Director and Best Cinematography in the Israeli Competition at the 2021 DocAviv Film Festival;
• Cinema Sabaya (dir. Orit Fouks Rotem) – winner of the Debut Award at the 2021 Jerusalem Film Festival. The film will be screened in the presence of the director;
• The Fourth Window (dir. Yair Qedar) – screening in the presence of the director;
• The Round Number (dir. David Fisher).

Poland makes the second Focus of this year’s edition, a diverse program that features over 20 titles, among them Mosquito State (dir. Filip Jan Rymsza), 1970 (dir. Tomasz Wolski), The Cruise (dir. Marek Piwowski), Silent Land (dir. Aga Woszczynska), The Balcony Movie (dir. Paweł Łoziński).

The festival program also includes a Krzysztof Kieślowski retrospective, presenting ten of his most well-known and appreciated works, such as A Short Film About Killing, The Scar, The Double Life of Véronique, and the trilogy Three Colors – Blue, White, Red.

In the Romanian Days section, the audience will have the opportunity to discover the latest additions to Romanian cinema: Cloud of Chernobyl, 1986: The Lost Year (dir. Ligia Ciornei), A Higher Law (dir. Octav Chelaru), The Goat and Her Three Kids (dir. Victor Canache), Blue Moon (dir. Alina Grigore, winner of the Golden Shell at the 2021 San Sebastián Film Festival), Immaculate (dir. Monica Stan, George Chiper-Lillemark), The Island (dir. Anca Damian), Marocco (dir. Emanuel Pârvu), Miracle (dir. Bogdan George Apetri), Nothing About Love (dir. Florin Piersic Jr.), Man and Dog (dir. Ştefan Constantinescu), For Me You Are Ceaușescu (dir. Sebastian Mihailescu), Snowing Darkness (dir. Gabriel Achim).

This year, the 3×3 section brings together three remarkable filmmakers: Gaspar Noé, Alexandru Solomon and Ildikó Enyedi. The program showcases their most awarded, as well as their newest films.

The cine-concerts are also a must-see at the festival. For its 21st edition, TIFF will host three such special events:

• The Polish Dancer (dir. Alexander Hertz), with live music by Grammy Award-winning artist Włodek Pawlik;
• Moonwalk One (dir. Theo Kamecke), set to the music of the French group Invaders: Nicolas Courret (drums, synthesizers), David Euverte (piano), Nicolas Bonniere (electric guitar);
• Nosferatu (dir. F. W. Murnau), accompanied live by the artists of the Hungarian State Opera in Cluj-Napoca, on original music composed by Simona Strungaru, under the baton of German conductor Stefan Geiger.

Documentary films Navalny (dir. Daniel Roher) and The Last King: Behind the Iron Curtain (produced by John M. Florescu) round out the Special Screenings program.

Another highlight of TIFF2022 is the concert by Eliades Ochoa, a founding member of the Buena Vista Social Club, who will perform with his band, Grupo Patria. Eliades Ochoa is “one of the best guitarists of his generation” (The Guardian), an iconic figure in Latin American music The artist’s presence in Cluj will also be marked by a special screening of the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary directed by Wim Wenders: Buena Vista Social Club.

On June 20, TIFF will host Ukrainian Street Food Day, a special event where chef Adi Hădean will prepare, together with Ukrainian chefs, traditional dishes from the neighbouring country, which festival participants are invited to try out. All funds raised from the event will be donated to the #SolidarSocial initiative, which delivers hot meals to refugees. Ukrainian chefs, professional or amateur, are invited to join the event. For more details, go here.

Transilvania International Film Festival will take place between June 17-26. For more details and the latest news, visit the TIFF website or Facebook page.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.