For those of you less familiar with the festival landscape of Eastern Europe, it suffices to say that Transylvanian IFF is one of the biggest festivals in the area, having held its 10th edition in 2011. Earlier this year, it has been accredited by the famous FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) and is now an A-list festival, along with Cannes and Berlinale. This is a fairly nice reward after ten years’ work to revitalize Romanian film industry (along with educating the audience, and putting the cool back to movie-going, where it belongs).

Transylvanian IFF is a 9 day hectic playground for industry professionals and cinephiles, altogether. The festival is full of events, but the main attraction is the competition (for first and second time directors). There are other sections, such as a non-competitive panorama, a horror section (features and shorts), 3x3 (3 films from 3 renowned directors), a section showcasing Romanian cinema, and several focus sections (Hungarian film days being one of them), and open air cinema. Three years ago they experimented the long forgotten Drive-In cinema on the large rooftop parking lots of a local shopping center. The festival started in 2001, with only a few titles, raising eyebrows and doubt. Why organize a festival in Cluj-Napoca, approximately 600 kms away from the capital? Why then? With what money? The local (cinematic) urban legend says that (back in 2001), Cluj-Napoca had the most movie goers out of all the big cities in Romania (there are 300.000 people living there, and a few thousands students who probably didn’t take the time to declare their new addresses at the Police station). Ten years later, the beginning of June brings hundreds of people to Cluj-Napoca. The streets become a fashion show, the theatres are packed with people and the cafés ceaselessly serve their drinks. The selection for the competition offers a wide range of first or second features while the “Supernova” (the non-competitive section) includes titles that have run a year before in Cannes, Sundance, the Berlinale or the Oscars(Mike Leigh’s ‘Another Year’, Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry”, “The Imperialists are Still Alive!” by Zeina Durra, “My Joy” by Sergei Loznitsa, or Susanne Bier’s now renowned “In a Better World”).

Despite recurrent (all kinds of) technical problems, the festival strives (and succeeds) to use double subtitling (Romanian and English), with the help of one or two volunteers that work on shifts (one or two feature films per day). And the double subtitles are indeed useful, since the audience varies from foreign industry professionals to elder ladies who take their grandchildren to a children’s projection. After 10 years, the festival has managed to become a brand in the area. Photo exhibitions, fashion shows, special projections (with an eco conscience to them), workshops, seminars, a film workshop for teenagers (aged 14 to 18), the local filmmakers’ competition and an adjacent music festival now take TIFF to another level. The organization of the festival has grown rapidly. There were about 400 volunteers working for the festival (mainly students who want to see films for free). For about ten days, a small crew made of journalists and film critics edit a daily newspaper, commenting on films, parties and putting hardcore cinephiles in the spotlight. The newspaper is printed in a large number of copies,. By the end of the day, it manages to reach unsuspected corners (from the ticketing office to second-hand shop counters).

It took them ten years to get here, and from now on, it can only get more interesting. It’s obviously a successful festival, growing rapidly, which only leads to further questions. How will it approach the film business? What will their priorities be? Could there be a partnership ahead (Hungary being a neighboring country, participating with 6 features and a short in the “Hungarian Day” section)? Could TIFF provoke, intrigue, shake things in the Hungarian film industry? All this and more, in the next episodes. It only takes a few years. I give them 5.