"Twenty is a symbol of youth but twenty is also a symbol of maturity."
March has arrived and it΄s the most awaited month for all those whose passion is cinema! One of Balkan΄s biggest film events, Sofia International Film Fesival, will happen for the 20th time. From 10th to 19th of March, the 20th edition of SIFF will open its gates in Sofia – “the creative city of film”. The festival’s program together with the traditional events in Burgas, Plovdiv and Varna will continue until March 31st, while a special screening of retrospective productions at the Cinema House has already warmed up the festival from 1st of March.
The selected works are grouped into SIFF΄s traditional sections, among them four Competition Programmes: the International Competition, the Balkan Competition, the Documentary Competition and the Jameson Short Film Award for the Best Bulgarian short film. This year, we find plenty of Balkan titles in all Competition, as well as non-competitive sections.
The jury of the International Competition is comprised of important filmmakers and industry personalities: director Dito Tsintsadze (President of the Jury), and members Harutyun Khachatryan (founder and director of the Yerevan International Film Festival and member of European Film Academy), Klaus Eder (Film critic, General Secretary of FIPRESCI) and directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov.
Among 24 films in total, the following 7 Balkan films and co-productions will be screened at the International Competition.
Snow by Ventsislav Vasilev
Losers by Ivaylo Hristov
In the Balkan competition, 12 of the region’s newest films are competing for the Domaine Boyar Best Balkan Film Award. The jury of the Balkan Competition consists of Bojidar Manov (Film Critic, Vice-President of FIPRESCI, Member of the European Film Academy, the awarded director Isabelle Stever (Austria’s Crossing Europe Award for the film Gisela, 2005) and the film expert Simon Perry (head of international production at Film Väst in Sweden, president of Ateliers du Cinéma Européen). The films competing are the following.
The High Sun by Dalibor Matanic
List of Balkan productions screened in other sections
Spotlight on Croatia
Focus on Turkey Yearning by Ben Hopkins, Germany, Turkey, 2015 11A by Mihaela Komitova, Bulgaria, 2015 The Woman of my Life by Antoniy Donchev
New Bulgarian Documentaries
The Legend by Vladimir Shteryanov, Bulgaria, 2016 The Global Farm by Courtney Guerra, Bulgaria, USA, 2015 In the Mirror by Youlia Kantcheva, Bulgaria, 2016 Aggresion by Anna Petkova, Bulgaria, 2015 Almost Everything by Valeriy Krisenko, Bulgaria, 2015 Children of the Silent Revolution by Viktoria Ershova, Bulgaria, USA, 2015 Just like the Movies by Atanas Hristoskov, Bulgaria, 2016 Tales from the Balkans by Mihail Meltev, Bulgaria, 2015 The Isle by Polina Gumiela, Germany, Bulgaria, 2014 Once Upon a Dream – A Journey to the Last Spaghetti Western by Tonislav Hristov, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, 2015 Good Morning, Captain by Jacky Stoev, Bulgaria, 2016
Special Screenings – Bulgarian Co-Productions
No Place for Fools by Oleg Mavromatti, Russia, Bulgaria, 2015 Labyrinths of Love Vladimir Shteryanov, Russia, Bulgaria, 2015 The Face of the Ash by Shakhwan Idrees Mohammed, Iraq, Bulgaria, 2014 Karbala by Krzysztof Lukaszewicz, Poland, Bulgaria, 2015 In your Dreams! by Petr Oukropec
New Approach to Society
My Personal Pain and Sorrow by Patrick Smithuis, Bulgaria The Truth about Bulgaria’s Forests by Patrick Smithuis, Bulgaria
Cinema Politica
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