Romania’s 2016 Transylvania Film Festival draws record number of spectators

This year’s edition of Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) marked a new record in its 15-year history. Almost 250 films from 64 countries were screened during the festival, which brought more than 79,000 ticket payers in cinema theaters, 9% more than at the previous edition. It is the second consecutive year when TIFF registered a significant increase in ticket sales, with a quarter of the tickets being purchased online. However, the total number of participants goes over 120,000, as it also includes those who attended the free outdoor screenings, master classes, workshops, launches, exhibitions or meetings at TIFF Lounge. Some 1,100 guests, such as directors, producers, actors, industry professionals and journalists, took part in screenings and special events organized in 20 locations. TIFF’s 15th edition has had numerous sold out screenings and events, including Romanian premiers such as Sieranevada directed by Cristi Puiu, Doua Lozuri (Two Lottery Tickets) directed by Paul Negoescu, and Caini (Dogs) directed by Bogdan Mirica. The later won the festival’s trophy and benefited from two additional screenings on June 5, both of them sold out in a very short time. The festival’s website also registered a record traffic. In ten days, the web page recorded 55,280 unique visitors, almost 107,000 visits, and more than 475,000 page views, which represents a 15% year-on-year increase. Most visitors came from Romania, Germany, the UK, USA, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Poland. The TIFF mobile app was accessed 190,000 times during the festival, four times more than during last year’s edition. The festival’s Facebook page was also popular in this period, the video clips posted on the page registering more than 1.01 million views. This year, some 350 volunteers helped to organize the events in the TIFF locations. The 2016 TIFF took place in Cluj-Napoca between May 27 and June 5. The thriller Caini (Dogs), directed by Romanian Bogdan Mirica, was the big winner while the Best Directing Award went to Israeli Avishai Sivan for Tikkun. Read more about the winners here. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Tiff.ro, Photo by: Vlad Cupsa)