240 feature and short films from 47 countries will be screened in the ninth Transilvania International Film Festival, making this a record edition of the biggest Romanian film festival and one of the most important in Central and Eastern Europe. More than 600 foreign and Romanian guests will attend the festival, which is taking place this year in 14 locations, including the biggest Open Air location in Transilvania IFF's history, the Ursus Open Air opened in Cluj-Napoca's Piata Unirii – the city's central square, which will host a 900-seat Open Air cinema – Cluj's version of Piazza Grande. This is also the location for the festival's official opening – scheduled for this evening – Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen.
16 features and 19 shorts run in the 5th edition of the Romanian Days (June 3-5, 2010) – TIFF's traditional competitive showcase of the best recent Romanian productions – another record for the Cluj festival. The Romanian Days line-up includes features If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (dir. Florin Serban), winner of the Silver Bear – Jury Grand Prix and the Alfred Bauer Award at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival; Portrait of The Fighter As a Young Man (dir. Constantin Popescu), included in the Berlinale Forum Cristi Puiu's long awaited feature Aurora and Radu Muntean's Tuesday, After Christmas, premiered in this year's Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival; The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, Andrei Ujica's acclaimed film included in the Official Selection of Cannes 2010 Film Festival; and world premieres Hello! How Are You? (dir. Alex Maftei), veteran Radu Gabrea's The Red Gloves and the latest documentary produced by HBO Romania, The Shukar Collective Project (dir. Matei-Alexandru Mocanu). Ionut Piturescu's Quest, winner of the Best Short Film Award in the latest edition of the Cannes Directors' Fortnight; Adrian Sitaru's The Cage, winner of the DAAD Award in the Berlinale Shorts competition; Alexandru Mavrodineanu's Music In The Blood, included in the international competition of the Clermont-Ferrand film festival are also featured in the Romanian Days Shorts Competition.
Wim Wenders – recognized for his outstanding contribution for the development of European cinema and Romanian legend filmmakers such as director and actor Liviu Ciulei – winner of the Excellency Award and actress Dorina Lazar – recipient of the Lifetime Achievement trophy – are honoured by the 9th edition of the Romanian festival. They are following important local and foreign film figures such as Catherine Deneuve, Claudia Cardinale, Nicolas Roeg, Vanessa Redgrave, Stefan Iordache, Gheorghe Dinica and Florin Piersic, seen on stage in the festival's previous editions.
A total of 14 venues will host this year's screenings, with several others hosting concerts, exhibitions or official festival parties in the 400,000 inhabitants-city of Cluj-Napoca, in the heart of Transilvania. The TIFF audience will be able to choose from over 60 films a day screened in the festival's venues, which include two open air locations and one Drive-In.
Another first in the festival's history is AlternaTIFF – the alternative music festival organized by the Transilvania International Film Festival and Indiescouts, which will bring together at the TIFF Meeting Point stage and in the Zorki Cafe downtown Cluj-Napoca some of the most important Romanian and Hungarian alternative music bands.
