Romania launches first regional fund

Romania’s first regional film fund, the Transilvania Film Fund (TFF), is to be launched in April with an initial budget of at least €100,000 as part of a public-private partnership.

Speaking exclusively to Screen ahead of this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market, TFF’s executive director Cristian Hordila said that the new venture is being initially financed by the City of Cluj where the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) is held each June.

The aim is to have other cities in Transilvania come onboard the initiative as financial partners in the future.

Based on the model of similar regional funds in Europe, TFF would support the production of feature films (including international co-productions); the development of local film projects, shorts and documentaries; further training of film-makers through master classes; and the creation of a film commission.

Hordila explained that Cluj’s geographical location halfway between Bucharest and Budapest, and with its Romanian and Hungarian communities living side by side, made it “a perfect eco-system” for co-productions between the two countries, especially since they would be able to tap into the Hungarian tax incentives.

Cluj-Napoca has a film producing tradition originating in the early 20^thcentury when Alexander Korda and Casablanca’s Michael Curtiz (then Mihaly Kertesz) made their first films in studios here.

TFF’s partners are the Cluj-Napoca city authorities, the city’s two universities, and entrepreneur Mircea Suciu, head of the DSG VFX studio.

Hordila added that TFF would aim to become a member of the Cine-Regio pan-European network of regional film funds.