A Friendly Review

Transylvania Mountain Festival 2020, was definitely an edition to remember for the entire mountain community! While navigating through the turmoil of the global pandemic, this team gracefully deployed an all-mountain, hybrid event format. “Vertical Stories” – the lead theme of the TMF 2020 edition was present in the entire creative output of the mountain festival and in the actions of the TMF team, who carefully distributed the festival program across five weeks, from October to November, and successfully awarded the 2020 TMF Awards for film, photography, innovation and mountain activity. The hybrid attendance of 744 mountaineers, athletes, artists, creators and innovators from 23 countries, to the festival’s program, is the evidence of a strong community around Transylvania Mountain Festival. TMF 2020 – A story of verticality!

TMF 2020 Key Facts

Time and duration: October 20 – November 22, (5 weeks)

Content:

  • 4 sections: sports, experience, innovation, education
  • 4 annual competitions: mountain film competition, mountain photography competition, mountain innovation competition and mountaineering projects competition.
  • 12 mountain sports represented across the festival’s activities: mountaineering, hiking, paragliding, climbing, running, kayaking, speed mountaineering, caving, skiing, snowboarding, highlining, wakeboarding.
  • 6 arts in focus: photography, film, painting, music, literature, sculpture.

Offline Activities:

  • 12 outdoor workshops & tours (MTB, hiking, paragliding, climbing, first aid, avalanche and mountain safety)
  • 2 mountain photography exhibitions (outdoor & indoor)
  • In 4 areas of the Carpathians: Trascău Mountains, Muntele Mare, Lăpușului Mountains, Făgăraș Mountains.

Online Activities:

  • 20 films (mountain documentaries, feature films and adventure shorts)
  • 2 world premieres
  • The annual competitions
  • Student summer project “Mountains of Romania For Active Tourism | Adventure Digital Catalogue” in partnership with Babeș Bolyai Univeristy – Faculty of Geography
  • Online meeting with the Regional Geography Center Cluj
  • Hybrid TMF 2020 Awards Gala

Engagement:

  • 744 unique attendees – 34% offline, 66% online;
  • From 23 countries: Romania, France, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Unknown, Austria, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Serbia, Portugal, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, New Zealand, Chile.
  • 12 exhibiting photographers
  • 20 film production teams
  • Total online film show: 12 hours and 23 minutes
  • Total viewing time: 23 days, 17 hours, 17 minutes, 52 seconds.

2020 Transylvania Mountain Festival Awards

As the most awaited moment of each year, the TMF Awards Gala was the highlight of the festival. Here there are the great winners of the TMF Trophies:

  • The winner of the 2020 TMF Mountain Film Award is director Marc Brulard with his mountain documentary “Face au Vide” (France, 2020)
  • The winner of the 2020 TMF Mountain Photography Award is photographer Vlad Ionescu (Romania) with a set of amazing photos from the Romanian Carpathians.
  • The winner of the 2020 TMF Mountain Innovation Award is Traffic Plan with the project “Băișoara ski resort skiers circulation and car parking simulation” – made by dr. ing. Călin ȘERBU – CTO, Traffic Plan.
  • The winner of the 2020 TMF Mountain Activity Award is Cosmin Andron, IFMGA mountain guide, for its overall activity in the areas of mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain guiding, initiatives for professional development and involvement in the practice of these activities in Eastern Europe.

In addition:

  • The TMF Distinction for Romanian Film awarded to “La Cota 10.000″ (10.000 Meters Up) directed by Dan Petru and Radu Restivan.

2020 TMF Online Film Show

The films screened during TMF Online Film Show were a set of mazing #VerticalStories that we enjoyed selecting and presenting to you all! Congratulations to all the athletes, producers and directors for their work:
  • Loic et les Flolopapys (Belgium 2019) – a story of friendship and climbing
  • 83° Ski The North – a ski adventure in the arctic landscape
  • TheKFC (New Zealand, 2020) – a happy paragliding journey
  • The Long River Home (USA, 2020)- a human adventure
  • The Legend of Muksu (Germany, 2020)- an epic paddling story in Tajikistan
  • Paradice (Switzerland, 2020) – on ice climbing and alpine sports
  • Saisons (France, 2020) – a tribute to the Massif Central
  • Foresight (Italy, 2020) – speed mountaineering
  • Tic-Toc (Argentina, 2020) – a story of exploration in Chile
  • Jill Steinhuis – Painting The Invisible (France, 2020) – art
  • Eric Escoffier – Lust For Life (France, 2019) – high altitude
  • La cota 10.000 (Romania, 2020) – PREMIERE, trail running
  • That’s Wild (US, 2020) – a story of discovery in the mountains
  • The Pinnacle of Rush (Austria, 2020) – speed skiing.
  • Light in the Dark (Italy, 2020) – a story of caving
  • Building Bridges (Germany, 2020) – high slackline above Monument Valley
  • Traversings (Italy, 2020) – alpine skiing in Orobie Alps
  • The Road Ahead (Sweden, 2020) – roller skiing and climate action
  • Along The Edge (Netherlands, 2020) – an adventure from the summits to the deep seas

TMF 2020 – A Story of Verticality!

2020 TMF Official Photography Exhibition

In 2020, the mountain photography competition and exhibition outlined in 2 distinct categories: mountain sports and mountain landscapes. A total of 30 photos were selected to be displayed outdoor at the French Institute from Cluj-Napoca, belonging to the following photographers:

Adrian Crapciu

Alex Buisse

Andrei Moldovan

Cosmin Berghean

Catalin Munteanu

Daniel Mîrlea

Lucian Dachman

Marc Brulard

Pawel Zygmunt

Vlad Ionescu

Verticality Is An Attitude

Now, that the edition has successfully concluded we have an important message to you all. 2020 was not only unexpected, uncertain and ambiguous  but also creative, because we took it as a challenge.

While most events and cultural actions were cancelled, not only due to sanitary risks but also due to lack of sponsorships, we decided to work with the given restrictions and create something nice for the TMF community. It took a lot of guts, discipline, verticality and creativity to synchronize this all-terrain  hybrid program.

And most important of all, we thank our special TMF community – the people who love going in the mountains, who enjoy the great outdoors and who have demonstrated once again that discipline and caring for others is the secret to our common well-being.

TMF 2020 – A Story of Verticality!

The Ones Who Trusted Us For Our 3rd expEdition

TMF 2020 – A Story of Verticality was written as an after-event report of the edition. For more information please contact the team!