The Sofia Film Fest /March 10 – 31/ turns 20 in 2016. Talents and fans of the 7^th art will once again gather over the next month. The fest which has been ranked among Top 50 of the world’s festivals now has a program with more than 150 feature and documentary movies, along with 50 short films.

A total of 13 titles will compete within the International Contest for first or second feature movie, struggling for the Sofia – City of Cinema big award. There are two Bulgarian works among those: Zhazhda /Thirst/ of director Svetla Tsotsorkova and Snyag /Snow/ of director Ventsislav Vassilev. The If and When title of Israeli director Eran B. U. will have its global premiere at the contest.

No less than 95 short films will compete in 2016 for the Jameson Prize. Many young filmmakers got their inspiration for an initial step over the years by this prize and many of their works were seen around the globe. Here is what Mrs. Elena Ilieva, Jameson’s brand manager says:

“Jameson and Sofia Film Fest have cooperated for 13 years now with a collection of over 1,000 movies gathered for the prize over that period. The following successes of some of our winners are a fact. For instance, Svetla Tsotsorkova, our 2004 winner now participates in the International Contest. This is a good way to see the inspiration and successes of our filmmakers.”

Traditionally the festival is unveiled with a Bulgarian movie – this year it will be the latest feature movie of director Iglika Trifonova, named The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and His Son. “I see this production as a very special one, as it has not a single shooting day in Bulgaria and only two Bulgarian actors take part in it,” says SFF’s Director Stefan Kitanov. “Being a fellow producer, I do wish to congratulate Rositsa Valkanova on her extreme efforts to create and control that huge pan-European production, in terms of organization and funding – both at the highest level. I see this as the bravest and best organized attempt of a Bulgarian producer so far.”

“The film is based on a true story, taken from the cases of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, but it is not related to law but rather to psychology and existentialism,” director Iglika Trifonova says. “I saw it as an essential thing to make a movie about what had happened to our neighbors, due to the small distance and furthermore – I think it is very important to realize what could happen here too. I am talking about ethnic tension, about the century-long coexistence of Muslims and Christians in the same lands and what could some political spark cause. That was why I dared to make a movie on a foreign story, in English mainly. That was why I opted for different actors with various backgrounds as nationality.”

One more thing, very encouraging – lots of Bulgarian features and documentaries will be presented within the festival’s frames this year, as our cinema’s upsurge is visible, according to Stefan Kitanov.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev