Attended by the festival's guests, officials and over 1600 brave viewers, ready to defy heavy rain, the Gala held the pre-release screening of Pedro Almodóvar's delightful comedy Los amantes pasajeros.
The 12th edition was official opened by Tudor Giurgiu, the president of the festival, Mihai Chirilov, the artistic director, Emil Boc, the mayor of Cluj-Napoca and Horea Uioreanu, the president of the County Council. "I'm happy to see that we've managed, once again, to overcome bad weather and that there's so many of us here. This will be a rich edition with 190 films from 53 countries and hundreds of guests”, said Tudor Giurgiu.
And speaking of guests, the opening gala was attended by Nik Powell, the director of UK's National Film and Television School and vice-president of the European Film Academy, the director of photography Ed Lachman, directors Pablo Berger (Blancanieves), David Lambert (Hors les Murs) and Denis Côté (Vic et Flo ont vu un ours) and Frederic Boyer, director of the Tribeca Festival (New York) and member in the competition jury.
Those attending the gala watched the first of the ten shorts videos featuring Luminița Gheorghiu and directed by Cristi Puiu – the author of TIFF 2013 visual campaign – for the screenings within Unirii Square. "It's an unusual campaign because this is an adventurous edition. No jokes allowed – it's the crisis and our budget was subjected to serious cuts”, said artistic director Mihai Chirilov. Adding that „this year, the stars are the films”, he recommended the launching of the Lucian Pintilie exhaustive DVD box-set, which will take place on June 7: It's our gift for the most important Romanian filmmaker”.
Today and tomorrow, those attending the festival are invited to a Weekend at the Castle, in one of the most beautiful places around Cluj, the Banffy Castle in Bonțida. In addition, throughout the festival, various bands will hold their first ever Cluj concerts: The Tiger Lillies, DakhaBrakha, Sofa Surfers, etc.
Asked "What color is Cluj?" as a preview of the new festival which will take place in the city starting this summer – Colours of Cluj (August 1 – 4, 2013), the audience answered: red.
Before the screening, two making-of videos reminded the audience some of the highlights of the previous edition of TIFF and of the first edition of the "Full Moon" Horror & Fantasy Film Festival in Biertan (the second edition will tack place between August 14-18).
In addition to an "in memoriam" video dedicated to Irina Petrescu, the recipient of the TIFF 2007 Life Achievement award who passed away this spring, those gathered in the Unirii Square took a trip down memory lane thanks to the Cluj breathes TIFF video featuring the late film critic Alex. Leo Șerban, Catherine Deneuve, Claude Lelouch, Geraldine Chaplin, Jaqueline Bisset, Wim Wenders, Vanessa Redgrave, Claudia Cardinale, Berlinale's Dieter Kosslick, film critic Jay Weissberg („Variety”), producer Ada Solomon, Cristian Mungiu, Alexandra Maria Lara.
To watch the video: http://youtu.be/e_V3RyJM3WM.
TIFF 2013 will benefit from the invaluable aid of its 405 volunteers of all ages (the oldest being 69).
• Tudor Giurgiu's outfit was offered by „Tudor. Personal Tailor”.
