Piața Unirii of Cluj-Napoca was packed full Friday night, on 2 June, at the opening of TIFF (02 – 11 June 2017). Around 3,200 people viewed the comedy King of the Belgians on the biggest screen of the Festival's history and one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, of 23 x 14 m. The record number of viewers was anticipated by the advanced ticket sales, double compared to last year.
Among the special guests who stepped on the red carpet, there were personality of Cluj public life and local stars: Corina Șuteu, former Minister of Culture, actor
Dorel Vișan, Cornel Ilie, lead singer of the Vunk band, journalist Lucian Mândruță and Dragoș Bucurenci. From the production crew of the film
King of the Belgians, the event was attended by American director Jessica Woodworth and actors Peter Van den Begin and Titus De Voogdt.
The Festival's chairman,
Tudor Giurgiu, officially thanked for their attendance to, among others, Stefan Kitanov, Sofia International Film Festival, who years ago encouraged the idea of organising a festival of such amplitude in Romania. Also from Bulgaria came the singers from the choir “Black Sea Mermaids”, the fictional band from the film, who added colour through their voices and costumes to TIFF opening night.
Presenting this Edition, TIFF chairman mentioned another record to be reached in 2017: about 1,300 guests are to arrive in Cluj during the festival. Among these, there is also French star
Alain Delon, attending the screening of the film
Afacerea Pigot / For a Cop's Hide (1981), to which over 1,700 tickets have been already sold. Among the recommendations, there were the premiere of the film
Povestea iubirii / A History of Love, with director
Radu Mihăileanu and famous actor Derek Jacobi in attendance, and InfiniTIFF, a space where the audience will have the opportunity to experience, among others, virtual reality movies.
“At TIFF, we have room for everybody”,
Mihai Chirilov, artistic director of the festival emphasises in a speech on diversity. He also listed the new sections and the events dedicated to children, adults, elderly citizens or to blind persons. Mihai Chirilov made a special recommendation for the special screening of
California Dreamin’ (Nesfârșit) / California Dreamin' (Endless), 10 years after the release of the film directed by the regretted
Cristian Nemescu, Award-winner at Cannes. American actor Armand Assante will attend the event on 7 June, at 21.45, in Piața Unirii.
Details at:
www.tiff.ro
