Transylvania International Film Festival Day Four: No Bad Scenes, No Good Scenes

A day of immense contrast

It’s no surprise that HBO — the production studio behind Euphoria, The White Lotus, Game of Thrones and The Sopranos — know how to put on a good show. With deep blue lighting in a cavernous event hall that recalls a Sam Levinson-vanity project, a DJ spinning everything from “I Follow Rivers” (aka *the* Blue is the Warmest Colour (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013) song) to “Highway to Hell” and everyone in an affable, Balkan-party-party mood, the HBO party last night was certainly a night that will live long in the memory. It was certainly better than my flight back this afternoon. 

One particularly ostentatious move from the channel — that no single person referred to as Max throughout the entire night — was a 3D-printed sculpture of one of the dragons from House of the Dragon. Printing the separate parts, glueing them together, post-processing the surfaces, transporting the individual parts and then putting it together again must have cost thousands of euros. Nonetheless, it’s a sign that HBO or Max or whatever they will be called in six months, certainly enjoy investing in the region, with the Romanian television scene rumoured to be as vibrant and interesting as its films. 

Yet, believe it or not, I went all the way to Romania and somehow didn’t see a single Romanian film. Oh well, we’ll get them next time. 

Read more over at Journey into Cinema!