The hottest festivals of Summer 2019 in Romania

Music festival season will be here before you know it. Business Review sums up your schedule for the hottest fests of this summer, so break out your tie-dye and bandanas.

By Oana Vasiliu

June

As has happened for several years now, Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF), held in Cluj-Napoca, kicks off the summer festival agenda. This year it turns 18. Expect new box office records, sold-out opening and closing screenings that are the talk of the town, and eclectic hot-ticket film-based events. Plus the parties. May 31-June 9.

Street Delivery Bucharest will this year showcase poetry, with the theme of the capital city and the stories behind it. June 14-16.

Next in line is Sibiu International Theater Festival (FITS), where the performing arts are brought together, with an impressive agenda for theater lovers and contemporary dance connoisseurs, including industry debates, street art and music, plus much more. June 14-23.

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For debates and movies about the environment, try Pelicam Film Festival. Held in Tulcea, on the shores of the Danube, the event channels good vibes and a good mood in an attempt to promote and protect the environment. June 20-23.

More movies, this time in Bucharest, at the Bucharest International Film Festival. Another iconic date in the Romanian cinema calendar is this year included in the La Roumanie en France / La France en Roumanie program, so a special section will be dedicated to a major French filmmaker who will be present in Bucharest. June 24-30.

July

Jazz is definitely in the air in July. It starts with Jazz in the Park in the Transylvanian city of Cluj (July 1-7), then moves west for Timisoara’s JazzTM (July 5-7), which overlaps with the Bucharest Jazz Festival (July 1-7). Later on, the 23rd Garana Jazz Festival (July 11-14) awaits fans in the picturesque Semenic Mountains.

If you are not in the mood for jazz, don’t worry. Electro-dance Neversea (July 4-7) brings Afrojack, Jessie J, Los Frequencies and Steve Aoki, among others, to Constanta city, right on the beach, for four days of continuous parties. Electric Castle will also have an electric line-up this year. The Castle of Bontida (Cluj county) will host Florence and The Machine, Limp Bizkit, Nils Frahm, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Bring me the Horizon, among many others. July 17-22.

Meanwhile, Open Air Blues Festival in Brezoi, Valcea county, will welcome blues greats, from headliner Beth Hart to Oscar Benton, Diana Rein and others. July 18-21.

Sibiu will also host two events this month. Sibiu International Street Art Festival will color the Transylvania city with an impressive selection of internationally famous urban artists over July 1-7. And ART Mania presents a series of concerts headlined by Dream Theater. July 26-27.

But if you don’t want to travel outside Bucharest, don’t worry. July brings Rock the City, featuring The Cure and Editors. July 22.

August

August starts with probably the best-known music festival in Romania: Untold. Held in Cluj-Napoca over August 1-4, the celebration of EDM music will bring together Bastille, David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas, Martin Garrix and many others for four days of nonstop partying.

Another special festival experience is Anonimul Film Festival, held in Sfantu Gheorghe, Tulcea county, at the furthest reaches of Romania, just between the Danube and the Black Sea. Paradise. August 5-11.

Closer to Bucharest, Summer Well (August 10-11) and Fall in Love (August 31 – September 1) will allow those still at home to chill out with good live music. Meanwhile, Iasi’s Afterhills offers two weekends packed with EDM music (August 23-25 and August 30-September 1) with Don Diablo, Rita Ora, Morcheeba, Faithless and many more on the bill.

And the summer festivals end with the greatest name of them all, the classical music journey of the George Enescu International Festival, which will be held in several locations and venues all over Romania. August 31-September 22.