Traditionally, Bulgarian cinema is strongly represented in the programme of the Sofia International Film Festival from the very beginning. The 28th edition will be no exception and the festival will present 43 Bulgarian feature and documentary films, international co-productions with Bulgarian participation and short films.
9 films created between March 2023 and March 2024 are part of the “New Bulgarian Features” programme. Nadejda Koseva 's "The Trap" (European premiere) and Yana Lekarska's "Because I Love Bad Weather" (World premiere) are in the International Competition, Stephan Komandarev's "Blaga's Lessons" is in the Balkan Competition and Yana Titova's "Dyad" is in the Teen Competition. After it participates at the Golden Rose, Peter Rusev's: "Apostle: A Gentle Knight in Brutalia" will have its Sofia premiere.12 feature-length documentaries are in the "Bulgarian Documentary Premieres" programme. All films are premieres for Sofia. "The Last Seagull" by Tonislav Hristov and "Balkan Black Box" by Tzvetan Dragnev are also in the International Documentary Competition, while "Pulsating Hills" by Todor Bashiyanov and Todor Karagyaurov about the iconic music radio host Toma Sprostranov and "Monolith Band" by Dimitar Ilchev about the beloved Bulgarian rock band will have world premieres.
This is a record year for international co-productions with Bulgarian participation. Adi Voicu's "The Capture" (Romania-Bulgaria) and Ana-Maria Comănescu's "Horia" (Romania-Bulgaria-Serbia) are in the International Competition, Zeki Demirkubuz's "Life" (Turkey-Bulgaria), Mladen Đorđević's "The Working Class Goes to Hell" (Serbia-Greece-Bulgaria-Montenegro) and Christina Ioakeimidi's "Medium" (Greece-Bulgaria) are in the Balkan Competition, where Yorgos Zois's "Arcadia" (Greece-Bulgaria) is out of competition. In the "Kaleidoscope" section is the Georgian-Bulgarian co-production "Citizen Saint" by Tinatin Kajrishvili, in which the expressive black-and-white image by cinematographer Krum Rodriguez stands out.
A total of 14 Bulgarian short films will be presented at the festival. 12 of them (9 world premieres) will be in the Bulgarian Short Film Competition and a total of 12 will premiere for the Sofia audience.
In honour of the winners of the Sofia Municipality Award, the jubilarians Tsvetana Maneva and Georgi Todorov-Jozi, we will screen Georgi Djulgerov's timeless Bulgarian classic "Measure for Measure".
We will also remember Ivan Tscherkelov ("Pieces of Love") and Lyudmil Todorov ("Migration of the Belted Bonito"), important directors of the cinema of the Transition who have passed away without time.
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We look forward to seeing you at #CINEMA!
#28SofiaIFF