The Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) attracted over 130,000 spectators in Cluj-Napoca for ten days of films and shows.
"The 24th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival ended on a high note Sunday evening: over 5,000 people attended the AMADEUS LIVE event at BT Arena, while 3,000 locals gathered in Unirii Square to watch the closing film, 'Sirat' (directed by Oliver Laxe), on the giant open-air screen. These final night numbers brought the festival's total attendance to an impressive 125,000 spectators, as Transilvania IFF once again turned Cluj into a true capital of film and culture for ten days," reads a press statement released on Tuesday by the organisers, agerpres reports.
Legendary Hungarian director Bela Tarr, Portuguese actress Maria de Medeiros, Spanish actor Eduard Fernandez, Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes, French actor Alexis Manenti, Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, Belgian director Fabrice du Welz, Colombian director Ciro Guerra, and Italian producer and director Umberto Pasolini were among 1000 special guests of the festival, which the public had the opportunity to meet in the cinema halls, in the TIFF Lounge or at masterclasses.
Traditionally, TIFF was also this year the meeting place with the stars of the Romanian film industry: actors Florin Piersic (who was honoured at the TIFF opening gala), Emilia Dobrin, Adrian Vancica, Gabriel Spahiu, Mircea Andreescu, Olimpia Melinte, directors Andrei Ujica, Tudor Giurgiu and Bogdan Muresanu came to Cluj-Napoca for the festival.
Topping the screenings with the most spectators are the films screened in Unirii Square, each with over 2,500 spectators - the opening film "Christy" (directed by Brendan Canty), "My Late Summer" (directed by Danis Tanovic), "Madly" (directed by Paolo Genovese), "Undercover" (directed by Arantxa Echevarria) and "Sirât" (directed by Oliver Laxe). The outdoor venue at Iulius Park was also packed every night, hosting sold-out screenings of "I'm Still Here" (directed by Walter Salles), "The Return" (directed by Uberto Pasolini), and "U are the Universe" (directed by Pavlo Ostrikov).
"Among Romanian productions, highlights included the world premiere of Tudor Giurgiu's latest film The Spruce Forest and Radu Jude's new feature Kontinental '25, both drawing long queues outside the cinemas. Another Romanian crowd-pleaser was The New Year That Never Came (directed by Bogdan Muresanu), which won both the Vodafone Hearts' Award for Most Popular Romanian Film and the Romanian Days Award for Best Feature. The cult screening of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Bontida Castle' drew 1,500 viewers, while the multimedia performance The Peasants attracted an audience of 800. By far the most successful event of the festival was Amadeus LIVE, with 5,000 attendees packing BT Arena for the screening of Milo Forman's Oscar-winning Amadeus (1984), accompanied live by the Cluj-Napoca National Opera Orchestra under the baton of Dutch conductor Ernst van Tiel, with a special appearance by the Madrigal - Marin Constantin National Chamber Choir. "
A selection of Romanian short films from Transilvania IFF.24 will be available to watch online for free, worldwide, from June 23 to July 23, 2025, on the FestivalScope platform. Throughout the summer, Transilvania IFF films will also be showcased in other festivals across Romania and Moldova: in Bucharest (July 4-6, Cinema Elvire Popesco), Transilvania IFF Chisinau (July 4-6), Sibiu (August 7-10), at the Luna Plina Festival in Biertan (August 15-17), at the Sunscreen Film & Arts Festival in Constanta (August 22-24), Transilvania IFF Brasov (September 18-21), Transilvania IFF Timisoara (September 18-21), and Transilvania IFF Oradea (September 26-28).
TIFF is organised by the Romanian Film Promotion Association and the Transilvania Film Festival Association, with support from the Ministry of Culture, Romanian Film Centre (CNC), Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council, Romanian Cultural Institute, Dacin Sara, UCIN, Department for Interethnic Relations - DRI, Floresti Town Hall, Creative Europe - MEDIA.
Comentează