Sunday brought a close to the ninth edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival, hosted in the university town of Cluj, Romania. The event has been steadily growing both in size and importance over the past few years with organizers touting 2010 as a record breaking year. During its ten days, bookended by Fatih Akin’s “Soul Kitchen” and Andrei Ujica’s “The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu,” TIFF (as the event is more commonly referred to locally, not to be confused with the elder, esteemed September Canadian event) presented a remarkable 240 films from nearly 50 counties, and its warm staff welcomed nearly 500 Romanian and international guests.
„I was invited as a special guest of the festival by the Romanian Cultural Institute, part of an American delegation which also included programmer Scott Foundas (Film Society of Lincoln Center), publicist Susan Norget, programmer and critic Alissa Simon (Palm Springs, Variety), and distributor Daniel Elefante (Kino Lorber Films). Our delegation joined Variety critic Jay Weissberg, noted Romanian critic Alex Leo Serban, Romanian Cultural Institute New York head Corina Suteu, and acclaimed New Romanian Cinema directors Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi Puiu, and Radu Muntean for a panel entitled “Romanian Film and American Audiences: A Love Story?” intended to dispel the myths some Romanians have about how foreign films are received in the US and how the Oscars work, as well as to address the disparate reactions recent Romanian cinema has engendered at home vs internationally. Puiu was in attendance at TIFF for the national premiere of his Cannes entry, “Aurora,” while Muntean presented “Tuesday, After Christmas,” also featured at Cannes. The affable Porumboiu, currently working on new projects, made a special appearance just for the panel. During a discussion of how some films, like Muntean’s “Boogie,” have been marketed in the US to make them more appealing to a broader audience – including changing titles and cutting trailers to focus on different aspects that directors may not agree with – Puiu balked at the idea that he should be trying to convince people not interested in seeing his work to do so – instead, he said, he wanted to present his work to those who wanted to see it. Unsurprisingly, the notoriously travel-phobic Puiu also added that he hated festivals, while the other two directors saw them (and corresponding press) as a necessary vehicle to get their films seen. Ultimately the panel seemed to serve its function, helping Romanian audiences understand New Romanian Cinema’s place within the context of noted foreign arthouse fare, and not necessarily well-known to general audiences”, told Basil Tsiokos to indiewire.com.
