Actor Isaach de Bankolé, among Transilvania IFF 2015 guests
Isaach de Bankolé, one of Jim Jarmusch’s favourite actors, who has also starred in films by Lars von Trier and Claire Denis, of the James Bond movies and Miami Vice, is one of the TIFF 2015 guests. The audience will see him in Délibáb (2014), the story of an African football player who comes to a Hungarian small town forced to fight for his freedom and his life. It’s Szabolcs Hajdu' fifth film and, alongside Bankolé, Romanian actors Dragoș Bucur and Răzvan Vasilescu, are both playing thugs. The film is screened during the Hungarian Day at Transilvania IFF.
Both force and subtlety are traits that underline Isaach de Bankolé’s presence in the European and American cinema. The famed Ivory Coast-born actor has an impressive career, with over 60 roles in films and TV series. He started out full throttle, in 1987, with a César Award for his Breakthrough performance in Black Mic Mac. He subsequently appeared in four Jim Jarmusch films, including the starring turn in The Limits of Control (2009). He is also remembered from Manderlay, by Lars von Trier), Casino Royale (2006), NCIS: Los Angeles, Miami Vice or White Material, by Claire Denis. His next film is Oppenheimer Strategies, where he will star alongside Richard Gere, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Steve Buscemi.
Celebrated within the 3X3 section, famed Norwegian writer/director Bent Hamer will attend the screening of his most recent film, 1001 grames, Norway’s submission to the Academy Award for a Foreign Language Film in 2014. The Cluj audience will also be invited to watch two other of his films, such as the debut feature Eggs (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Cannes, 1995), and Water Easy Reach (1998). Another guest of the 3X3 section is Agustí Villaronga, Spanish director, writer and actor famed for the visceral and impressive style of his films: Tras el cristal (1986), El mar (1999) and Pan negro (2010), the latter being Spain’s submission to this year's Foreign Language Film Academy Award category and winner of four Goyas. Last but not least, the 3X3 section hosts the social-themed films of the Israeli sister-brother duo Shlomi & Ronit Elkabetz: To Take a Wife (2004), Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014) and The Seven Days (2008).
György Pálfi, famous for the highly controversial Taxidermia (2006), and a 2013 TIFF jury member, returns to Transilvania IFF, for the Hungarian Day, with Free Fall. The film won the Special Jury Prize and the Best Director award in Karlovy Vary. Another guest is Martin Armstrong, protagonist of The Forecaster, a famous and controversial financial consultant about whom “The New Yorker” said: “Is he a phony, a freak or a genius?”. In the 80s, Armstrong set in motion a program based on the Pi number meant to forecast, quite accurately, any changes in the economy. According to his words, after refusing offers from some big American investors who wanted to use his program to manipulate the financial market, he was investigated by the FBI who later wrongly accused him of initiating a Ponzi-type scheme.
Director George Ovashvili will introduce his multi-awarded Corn Island, winner of the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary and an Academy Award shortlisted film. The Bulgarian born Ivan Barnev, famous for his turn in I Served the King of England, by Jirí Menzel, will introduce The Lesson.
Important names in the international film industry will attend the Transilvania Talent Lab and Transilvania Pitch Stop programs, holding seminars and master-classes: Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages, Matthieu Darras, program director of TorinoFilmLab, Elin Erichsen, director of development of Norwegian Film Institute, Sirkka Möller, member in the selection committee of the Berlinale Panorama section, Martina Bleis, member in the selection committee of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Mimi Plauché, program director of Chicago International Film Festival, Roberto Cueto, member in the selection committee of San Sebastián Film Festival. The TIFF competition jury is comprised of Dennis Lim, program director Film Society of Lincoln Center, member in the selection committee of New York Film Festival and co-director of New Directors/New Films, Violeta Bava, artistic director of Buenos Aires IFF– BAFICI and Romanian actress Olimpia Melinte.
American filmmaker Timothy Wheeler, Emmy nominee for Best Cinematography, will hold a master-class and will talk about his documentary The Other Shore, about the famous swimmer Diana Nyad, the holder of a world record. American Film Showcase will also bring to Cluj, also for a master-class, Jon Reiss, author of “Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Era”. Last but not least, TIFF will have as its guest the author of an original concept about the way in which filmmakers should tackle their projects, “Handling Ideas”, visual expert Paul Tyler.
