Cinema in Cluj
Cluj is the unofficial capital of Romanian cinematography – it was here, in 1905, that the country’s first film studio was inaugurated, and the city has more cinemagoers than any other Romanian city. Moreover, it’s one of the few places where city-centre cinemas survive in addition to multiplexes in the new malls: notably the Cinema Florin Piersic (formerly the Republicii), Piaţa Mihai Viteazul; and Victoria, B-dul Eroilor 51. Cluj is also home to the country’s premier film festival, the Transylvanian International Film Festival (TIFF), a ten-day jamboree at the beginning of June that features a superb mix of domestic and world films shown at the cinemas listed above.
Cluj festivals
The Untold Festival (w untold.com), over the first weekend of August, is big and very popular, with dance and techno acts in the central park and the new Cluj Arena and Polyvalent Hall immediately to the west. Cluj-Napoca Days takes place in the last week of May, centred on Piaţa Unirii, along with folk/jazz/blues and theatre in Piaţa Muzeului; and the Cluj Blues Festival is held at the Ethnographic Museum in early November.
Eating
Cluj has a reasonable bunch of restaurants, including several upmarket options, various pizzerias, for instance on B-dul Eroilor, and lots of fast-food options and snack bars, especially on Str. Napoca and Piaţa Blaga. Café life in Cluj ranks second only to that of Bucharest, as does the bar and club scene, thanks to the city’s large student population.
Unitarianism
Founded in Cluj in 1556 by the hitherto Calvinist minister David Ferenc (1520–79), the Unitarian Church had its origins among the Italian and Spanish humanists and some of the more extreme Anabaptists. Unitarianism derives its name from its rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity, as well as other basic doctrines such as the divinity of Christ, his atonement for the sins of the world, and thus the possibility of salvation. However, its significance lies in its undogmatic approach – adherents are conspicuous for their devotion to liberty and reason in matters of religion and their exercise of tolerance to all sincere forms of religious faith.
By 1568 Unitarianism was already accepted as one of the four official churches of Transylvania; it spread worldwide and by the 1830s had mutated to become the religion, for instance, of the Boston/Harvard establishment, with an emphasis on scientific progress and material success. In Romania there are now around 75,000 Unitarians, almost all Hungarian-speaking.