10-06-2012

FNE at TIFF: Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st Wins Transylvania Trophy

By Iulia Blaga

    CLUJ-NAPOCA: The 11th Transylvania IFF (www.tiff.ro) gave its top award (the Transylvania Trophy) to the Norwegian film Oslo, August 31st as well as the Best Script award to co-writers Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, who directed the film. Radu Jude's Everybody in Our Family (www.hifilm.ro) won Best Feature in the Romanian Days section at the awards ceremony on 9 June 2012.

    In the international competition Sergei Loban's Chapiteau Show (Russia) received the Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Maja Miloš, the director of Clip (Serbia) was awarded Best Director. Kim Kold (Teddy Bear, Denmark) was awarded Best Acting.

    In the Romanian Days section, actors Constantin Cojocaru and Victoria Cociaş received a Special Mention for Radu Gabrea's docu-fiction Three Days till Christmas (The Last Days of Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu). Nicolae Constantin Tănase's Blu was awarded Best short in Romanian Days. Bogdan-Ilie Micu received the Debut Prize for directing the long documentary A Dream's Merchant.

    The director &DOP Iosif Demian and the art director Helmut Stürmer were awarded Excelency Awards. Geraldine Chaplin, Mari Törőcsik and Ion Caramitru were awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards.

    The script The Summer Is Over, by Cristina Bîlea, received the HBO Award for Best script in the National Script Contest organized by HBO Romania (www.hbo.ro) in partnership with TIFF.

    241 movies from 45 countries were screened between June the 1st and June 10, among them 190 features. "There were more than last year, but fewer then in 2010," Mihai Chirilov, the artistic director of TIFF, told FNE. Ticket sales were also higher than 2011 levels.

    Beside the regular sections, the 11th edition of the festival had some first time events. It presented 10 of the most talented stage actors in Romania, promoting them to cinema professionals. It organized the first edition of the training program Transilvania Talent Lab (TTL) with seminars given by Richard Kwietniowski, Marta Lamperová, Vincenzo Rossini, Angelina Nikonova and Ada Solomon. One of the most appreciated film teachers in Hollywood, Dov Simens, held a 2 Day Film SchoolTM for the first time in Eastern Europe. The TIFF House was also a new project of the festival.

    TIFF also announced the recipient of the first Scholarship Alex. Leo Şerban, honouring the memory the leading Romanian film critic who died prematurely last year. The three months scolarship in New York is provided by the producer Bobby Păunescu and TIFF, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York (www.icrny.org) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center (www.filmlinc.com) to the film critic Cătălin Olaru from Cultura magazine.

    Guests of the festival also gave masterclasses, among them Melissa Leo, Christine Vachon, Jan Harlan, Michel Ciment, Timo Vuorensola and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The director of the Berlinale, Dieter Kosslick was a special guest, as well as Geraldine Chaplin and Claude Lelouch.

    After Cluj-Napoca, the festival moves to another city in Transylvania, Sibiu (www.tiffsibiu.ro), from 13-17 June. Transylvania Film Festival is organized by Romanian Film Promotion (www.romfilmpromotion.ro).

    Complete list of winners:

    • Transilvania Trophy offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute – 15,000 euro

    Oslo, August 31st/ Oslo, 31. August (dir. Joachim Trier, Norvway, 2011)

    • Best Directing Award offered by the Romanian Film Center – 5,000 euro

    Maja Miloš for directing the film Klip (Serbia, 2012)

    • Special Jury Award offered by Vodafone – 1,500 euro

    Chapiteau Show/ Shapito-Shou (dir. Sergei Loban, Russia, 2011)

    • Best Screenplay Award offered by Evenimentul Zilei –1,500 euro

    Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt for the screenplay of Oslo, August 31st/ Oslo, 31. August (Norvway, 2011)

    • Best Cinematography Award offered by Kodak Cinelabs România

    Barbara Alvarez for the cinematography of Thursday Till Sunday/ Dominga Sotomayor Castillo (Chile-Netherlands, 2012)

    • Best Performance Award offered by Vitrina Advertising – 1,000 euro

    Kim Kold for his part in the film Teddy Bear (Denmark, 2012)

    • FIPRESCI Award, offered by FIPRESCI

    Tyrannosaur (dir. Paddy Considine, UK, 2011)

    • The Audience Award, offered by Mastercard

    Chapiteau Show/ Shapito-Shou (dir. Sergei Loban, Russia, 2011)

    • The Excellency Award, offered by Mercedes-Benz

    Iosif Demian – director & director of photography

    Helmut Stürmer – art director

    • Lifetime Achievement Award- actor Ion Caramitru
    • Lifetime Achievement Award – actresses Geraldine Chaplin, Mari Törőcsik
    • Lifetime Achievement Award – director Claude Lelouch
    • Romanian Days Award for Feature Film offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute – 2,000 euro

    Everybody in Our Family/ Toată lumea din familia noastră (dir. Radu Jude, Romania-Netherlands, 2012)

    • Romanian Days Award for Short Film offered by Volksbank (1.500 de euro) and one day film shooting offered by MediaPro Studios

    Blu (dir. Nicolae Constantin Tănase, Romania, 2011)

    • Romanian Days Award for Best Debut offered by URSUS – 1.000 de euro

    Bogdan Ilie-Micu, for directing Dream’s Merchant/ Un gând, un vis, Doyle... si-un pix (Romania, 2012)

    • Romanian Days – Special Mention

    Constantin Cojocaru and Victoria Cociaş for the roles in Three Days Till Christmas (Last Days in the Life of Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu/ Trei zile până la Crăciun (Ultimele zile din viaţa Elenei şi a lui Nicolae Ceauşescu) by Radu Gabrea

    • Award for the Best Film in the Shadows Shorts competition, offered by Transilvania Media Group

    Hope (dir. Pedro Pires, Canada, 2011)

    • The Let’s Go Digital! Award for the Best Film produced in the LGD! Workshop, offered by UPC

    It sees you, by Mara Şimon, Denisse Conn-Tubacu, Cristian Georgescu

    • Local Competition Award offered by Terapia Ranbaxy – 1.500 euro

    Családi film by Ábel Visky

    • Special Mention of the Local Competition, offered by Fabrica de Pensule

    Connection Lost, by Paula Oneţ and Manuela Borza

    • HBO Award for the Best Feature Screenplay in the National Screenwriting Competition organized by HBO Romania in partnership with Transilvania IFF, in value of 3,000 USD

    Cristina Bîlea, for the script Vara s-a sfârşit

    • HBO Award for the Best Short Film Screenplay in the National Screenwriting Competition organized by HBO Romania in partnership with Transilvania IFF, in value of 1,500 USD

    Adina Militaru, for the script Dus întors: 3 minute

    • HBO Award for the Best Documentary Screenplay, in the National Screenwriting Competition organized by HBO Romania in partnership with Transilvania IFF, in value of 2,000 USD

    Adina Popescu and Iulian Manuel Ghervas, for the script 10 perfect