The Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), which takes place from September 27 to 29, in Oradea, celebrates 110 years of Hungarian animation with a selection of multi-award winning short films, which have influenced world cinema, as well as five recent Hungarian feature films, the organizers inform.
Premiering in Romania, immediately after the Budapest Classics Film Marathon, 13 short films selected for the anniversary of 110 years of Hungarian animation arrive at TIFF Oradea, a good opportunity for moviegoers to discover films created in the last 50 years, which have influenced world cinema through visual inventiveness and a critical view on life.
Concertissimo (1968), directed by Zsolt Richly and awarded the Grand Prix at the Annecy Festival, is a visual symphony that brings musical instruments to life in a colourful choreography.
Sisyphus (1974), a minimalist masterpiece by Marcell Jankovics, was nominated for an Academy Award for its philosophical depiction of man’s struggle against fate. The film has become a timeless classic, considered one of the most profound animated shorts in history.
In The Fly, Ferenc Rofusz transforms the ordinary life of a fly into a tense and claustrophobic experience. This short film won the first Oscar in the history of Hungarian animated film thanks to its revolutionary images, shot entirely from the perspective of a fly, the organizers say.
Beyond animation, this year’s edition of TIFF Oradea also includes a selection of the newest Hungarian films.
Directed by Csaki Laszla, „Pelikan Blue” takes us to Hungary in the 1980s, where three friends leave on a journey without limits after they realize they can forge train tickets by erasing the blue Pelikan ink and thereby securing leaving the country. Their harmless game turns into a network of forgery and buying tickets, which obviously cannot last forever without someone making a mistake and tipping off the police.
In „Free Fall”, directed by Fesos Andras, Bogdan Dumitrache plays the role of a firefighter specialized in rescues at height who begins to lose himself, and also his son.
Directed by Breier Adam, „All about the Lefkovics Family” approaches, with sensitivity and depth, the themes of pain and forgiveness, offering an intimate look at the complexity of family relationships. The film was awarded the FIPRESCI Award at the Sofia festival.
Also on Sunday, the Hungarian film programme will continue with „The Chess Player”, directed by Toth Barnabas, a captivating thriller, inspired by the novel of the same name by writer Stefan Zweig, which stages a story on the border between real and imaginary about the challenges a couple of young revolutionaries faces on their way to freedom, immediately after the Russian invasion in 1956.
The film „Without Air”, directed by Moldovai Katalin, tells a story that sounds extremely familiar, inspired by the case of the literature teacher from the „Mihai Viteazul” National College in Turda, who was disciplined after recommending to 11th grade students to watch the movie „Total Eclipse”, directed by Agnieszka Holland, about the symbolist poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. The physical and emotional relationship between the two poets, which is reflected in the film, triggered a veritable „war” between the parents, the high school management and the teacher.
The full programme of films screened at TIFF Oradea can be consulted at https://oradea.tiff.ro/program, and tickets can be purchased on the festival’s ticketing page: tiff.eventbook.ro.
The 7th edition of TIFF Oradea is co-organized by the Association for the Promotion of Romanian Film (APFR) and the Oradea City Hall through Visit Oradea – the Association for the Promotion of Tourism in Oradea and the Region.
AGERPRES
