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Croatian titles at 19th Transilvania International Film Festival  

Croatian minority co-productions The Barefoot Emperor and Tales from a Prison Cell to screen at this year’s 19th Transilvania International Film Festival, while the programme dedicated to established international directors will include three titles by Vinko Brešan. The festival is held 31st July – 9th August, while the screenings will take place exclusively at open-air venues in the Transylvanian city of Cluj.     

Fiction feature The Barefoot Emperor, a Belgian-Croatian-Dutch-Bulgarian co-production directed by duo Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, with Croatian producers Boris T. Matić and Lana Matić of Propeler Film, who are also the film’s executive producers, will appear in the Supernova programme focused on best new films of the year. The Barefoot Emperor is also set to premiere in Asia, at the 23rd edition of Shanghai International Film Festival. The film had its world premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and has since screened at numerous prestigious festivals such as those in Tallinn, Warsaw and Cairo. The film was entirely shot in Croatia and was created with support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. 

Hungarian director and screenwriter Ábel Visky’s documentary feature Tales From a Prison Cell, a Hungarian-UK-Croatian co-production (Croatian producer is Morana Ikić Komljenović of Fade In), screens at Transilvania IFF in the Hungarian Day programme dedicated to recent Hungarian cinema. The film is also set to appear in the Balkan Dox  competition of the 19th International Documentary and Short Film Festival – DokuFest. Tales From a Prison Cell premiered earlier this year, in the international competition programme of the second edition of FIPADOC International Documentary Festival in Biarritz, and was created with support from the National Film Institute Hungary, the MEDIA Sub-programme of Creative Europe and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.  

In addition, the Transilvania International Film Festival ‘3x3’ programme will feature three films by Vinko Brešan: What a Country!, Marshal Tito’s Spirit and Witnesses. Brešan’s latest political satire, What a Country! premiered internationally at the prestigious Warsaw Film Festival last year, while it was presented to the Croatian audience at Pula Film Festival,  where was awarded the Golden Arena for Best Actor (Krešimir Mikić) and the Golden Arena for Best Screenplay (Mate Matišić). In addition, the film was the second most watched Croatian box office title of 2019.   

The programme ‘3x3’ is traditionally dedicated to renowned directors from around the world and this year also includes films by Greek director Costa-Gavras and Serbian director Dušan Makavejev, both represented by three of their titles.  

The Transilvania International Film Festival is the biggest feature film festival in Romania. It is held in the city of Cluj-Napoca and aims to promote filmmaking by showcasing some of the most innovative films that highlight both originality and independence of expression, employing unusual cinematic language or focusing on current trends in youth culture. Find out more about Transilvania IFF at the festival’s official website.

Cover photographs: 19th TIFF visuals; scenes from The Barefoot Emperor, Tales From a Prison Cell, What a Country!

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