The International Competition for First and Second Films includes 12 films. We present five of them, the work of directors from Ukraine, the USA, Poland, Serbia, and Croatia.
Two lovers decide to continue their lives together – the story told by Ukrainian director Zhanna Ozirna begins with the joyous event that typically concludes fairy-tale narratives. Her film Honeymoon possesses the distinctive qualities of a thriller brimming with tension. The action unfolds in an apartment adjacent to the rooms where the Russian army has set up its headquarters following its invasion of Ukraine. With every passing moment, claustrophobia and paranoia intensify – the enamored couple is forced to remain silent as if they do not exist, and it later turns out that they are even unaware of what is happening outside their small home. It is entirely natural to feel fear in the face of a suddenly altered reality – no one is prepared to confront war head-on. Yet hope remains alive, as does their love, even if they do not know how much longer they will be able to endure being confined against their will. Ozirna’s film is supported by the special initiative of the Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema, which assists in the realization of debut and second films by promising young filmmakers. Its world premiere took place in the Venice ‘24 program.
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Eric Nazarian is a screenwriter and director with enviable experience, whose debut film The Blue Hour was presented at the 14th Sofia Film Festival in 2010. Born in Armenia and raised in the USA, Nazaryan worked in his father’s photo lab from his school years and later graduated from the School of Cinema and Television at the University of Southern California. In 2008, his screenplay Giants won the prestigious “Don and Gee Nicholl” screenplay development contest of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His documentary and short films have been showcased at various festivals over the years, and his latest work, Die Like a Man, is his second feature film and will have its world premiere in Sofia. The story follows 16-year-old Freddy, who is given a revolver with several bullets and ordered to physically eliminate a gangster— a rival of his own mentor. Will the young man manage to carry out the task, or will he “die like a man” with a weapon in hand? This plot is the first part of a film trilogy conceived by Nazarian, portraying street cultures and their violent “initiation” rituals, characteristic of American reality in the first two decades of the 21st century.
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The Polish film Under the Grey Sky, the debut of director Mara Tamkovich, tells the story of real events – the protests following the manipulated elections in Belarus in 2020 and the way these events change the fate of a journalist and those closest to her. The main character, Lena, is inspired by Katsyaryna Andreeva, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for her fearless reporting and her work at Belsat TV. Hidden from the police’s watchful eyes in an apartment above the “Square of Changes” in Minsk, she delivers her objective insights into the violence imposed by the authorities on the population, for which she is detained and imprisoned, while her husband continues his attempts to secure her release. Having begun her festival journey at Tribeca, Under the Grey Sky impresses with its authenticity, remarkable performances, and the raw fury against unscrupulous totalitarian power, skillfully interwoven into Tamkovich’s narrative.
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Sanja Živković creates her second film, Cat’s Cry, inspired by true events. Born in Serbia, her family emigrated to Canada during the military actions at the end of the last century that divided the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The story follows the drama within a family in which a child is born with the rare genetic disorder “Cat’s Cry Syndrome.” After the natural joy of the birth, the mother falls into shock, and her reaction leads to conflicts with the child’s father, his parents, and her own father, who begins a struggle for custody of his granddaughter. The screenplay for this film is by the legendary Serbian director and friend of Sofia Film Festival, Goran Paskaljević, and among the producers is his son, Vladimir Paskaljević.
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Producer, actor, and screenwriter Zvonimir Munivrana makes his directorial debut with the dramatic thriller Hallway to Nowhere, which will be shown in the International Competition in 2025 with its world premiere. The audience will meet young Franka, who flees from her authoritarian father and decides to live alone in an apartment inherited from her grandmother. Unexpectedly, she discovers an illegally squatting law student living there. After a romantic infatuation, dramatic twists, and a series of conflict-ridden situations, Franka may come to realize how she truly wants to change her life. “The decisions we make when we are very young and find ourselves at an important crossroads in our lives sometimes steer us in the wrong direction. More often than not, we ignore the advice of those around us, and more importantly, we fail to reflect on what is happening to us. Our life is like a radar. I sincerely believe that the events in it send us signals and give us feedback on how we should act at a given moment,” Munivrana shared with FNE.
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Expect the full program of the International Competition of the 29th Sofia Film Fest in February!
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WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT THE #CINEMA!
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