Romania events: Luc Besson's Dogman to open this year's Transilvania International Film Festival

Dogman by Luc Besson is scheduled to open this year's Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), which takes place in Cluj-Napoca between June 14 and June 24.

Dogman, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, pieces together, through flashbacks, the tragic fate of Doug, a young man who was thrown by his abusive father into a cage of fighting dogs he trained. Instead of tearing him apart, they became his family. Years later, Doug commits burglaries in the apartments of wealthy people, aided by an army of canine companions he calls his "children," and performs in a cabaret club.

Doug, the protagonist of Dogman, is the latest in a long line of memorable characters created by Luc Besson and is portrayed by Caleb Landry Jones, known for films such as Sean Baker's The Florida Project, Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, or Justin Kurzel's Nitram, for which he was awarded at Cannes in 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter described Caleb Landry Jones's role in Dogman as "a captivating and chameleonic performance" that manages "to be both touching and slightly frightening at the same time."

Regarded as the most Hollywoodian of French directors, Luc Besson began his career in the 1980s and quickly gained popularity with Subway, The Big Blue, or La Femme Nikita. Unlike his New Wave French predecessors, Besson has always boasted about not finishing a relevant degree and having learned how to make a film on set.

His Léon: The Professional launched Natalie Portman's career, while The Fifth Element gathered global stars like Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Gary Oldman. From thrillers to biographical films (Joan of Arc) or sci-fi, Besson hasn't shied away from anything but hasn't prioritized commercial success.

The film will be screened at the festival's Opening Gala, on June 14, on the big screen in Cluj-Napoca's Unirii Square.

(Photo: Still from Dogman, courtesy of TIFF)