Transilvania IFF partners with Film Independent for Holocaust awareness screening series

Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), the largest film festival in the country, announced a partnership with the Los Angeles-based Film Independent to present Always Remember in Transilvania, a series of free screenings aiming to raise Holocaust awareness.

During the 25th edition of the event, taking place from June 12 to June 21 in Cluj, two films selected by Film Independent will be screened at Cinema Victoria in Cluj-Napoca: Lucija Stojević’s Pepi Fandango and László Nemes’s Orphan.

Pepi Fandango is a 2023 Spanish documentary following the story of Peter Perez (nicknamed “Pepi”), a Viennese Holocaust survivor, and his musician friend Alfred Pahola, as they embark on a road trip together from Vienna to southern Spain.

Orphan is the third feature film of Hungarian director László Nemes, an Academy Award winner for Son of Saul, which won the Best Foreign Language Film in 2015. The historical drama is set in Budapest in 1957, in the aftermath of the failed uprising against the communist regime. The film follows Andor, a 12-year-old Jewish boy searching for his missing father, who instead discovers the truth about his mother’s survival during the Holocaust.

“We believe in the power of stories to amplify diverse voices and experiences and to cultivate empathy and understanding. Film, in particular, possesses a unique ability not only to entertain but to help shift mindsets and attitudes. Recent surveys reveal a global trend of fading foundational knowledge about the Holocaust. In response, we have worked with key partners, communities, and independent filmmakers to create Always Remember,” said Rachel Bleemer, Director of Programming and Events at Film Independent.

Film Independent is the organization behind the Film Independent Spirit Awards and numerous other initiatives supporting and championing independent filmmaking.

(Photo: still from Orphan, courtesy of TIFF)