Sad news for culture: TIFF gets postponed, FITS moves exclusively online and Bookfest is cancelled

Oana Vasiliu 07/04/2020 | 19:36

While the spread of the Coronavirus persist, major events from around the world have been cancelled or at least postponed by their organizers. Today, officials of three major cultural events in Romania announced their plans:  TIFF gets postponed, FITS moves exclusively online and Bookfest is cancelled.

Transylvania International Film Festival (due to happen: May 29 – June 7, Cluj Napoca): postponed

This year’s edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), the largest film festival in the country, is currently postponed. “We hoped, until last minute, that it would be possible to meet on May 29, in Cluj, that we would ask ourselves whether it would rain or not at the grand opening, and that we would enjoy ten days of films, concerts and the many surprises we worked hard on over the past weeks. We register a premiere we would not have wanted,” the TIFF organizers declared.

Still, the projects submitted to the festival’s programs like Transilvania Pitch Stop, Alex. Leo Şerban Fellowship, the Local Competition, remain valid for the rescheduled edition. Moreover, tickets remain valid but can be reimburst if buyers request it.

Sibiu International Theatre Festival (due to happen: June 12-21, Sibiu): broadcasted online

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers of the International Theater Festival in Sibiu made the decision to reschedule for 2021 their more than 500 events that should have taken place in Sibiu this year. From the desire to remain with the public, even in these difficult times, a special edition of FITS will be broadcast online: “The Power to Believe / Empowered”. The event will take place of FITS’ online channels, from June 12 to 21, 2020.

“We are living in times when the reality and lives of all are redefined. (…) This year’s edition of the festival, such as the Cultural Olympiad and the Tokyo Olympic Games, as well as many other international events, has been rescheduled. We decided to stay with the audience in Sibiu and around the world, in a special online edition. The great cultural events of the world need continuity, and in this period of solitude, each of us needs more than ever art, in all its forms: theater, dance, music, literature; art that will soothe and empower us to believe in the future. (…) Ten days, for 12 hours a day, FITS will offer to the public, online, a program of broadcasts that will include the greatest shows of the world in the areas of ​​excellence of theater, opera, dance, music, contemporary circus, staged by word-famous artists. (…) We stay together online and as soon as the situation allows us we will restore the miracle of art, on the scenes of Sibiu. I wish you all good health and see you well, online and offline! ” Constantin Chiriac, President of FITS, declared.

Bookfest (May 27-31, Romexpo, Bucharest): cancelled

According to the officials, the 2019 edition of the international book fair Bookfest held more than 150 exhibitors and about 1 million books, as well as over 400 events organized by participants, while the guest country was Great Britain. “A celebration of the book has in its center the joy shared around the printed wordS and its authors and we cannot allow such an event to be overshadowed by any health risk that we can avoid. We thank all the book lovers who make the existence of the International Bookfest Book Fair possible and we hope that we can meet, under normal conditions, at the next Bookfest editions,” wrote the organizers of the event today.

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