We have already presented some of the works in the Balkan Competition of the Sofia Film Festival, and the international jury in 2023, which will judge them, is composed of the directors Kostadin Bonev and Georgi Ovashvili, and the screenwriter and film expert Hanna Tsjelova. There are 12 films in total. Bulgaria will be represented by the Golden Rose winner for best film - "Mother" by Zornitsa Sofia; we presented the already nominated for the LUX Audience Award latest film by Emin Alper "Burning Days", the debut of Juraj Lerotic "A Safe Place", the latest films by Paul Negoescu "Men of Deeds", Pierre Jalica - "May Labor Day", Theona Mitevska - "The Happiest Man in the World" and Özjan Alper - "Black Night". Here are the other titles in the competition program:
The debut film "Have You Seen This Woman?" by directors Dusan Zoric and Matija Gluscevic premiered in the independent, special Critics' Week program in Venice, and won the Best Director Award at the Bangkok World Cinema Festival. The plot of the co-production between Serbia and Croatia depicts a middle-aged woman's attempts to "get out of her skin" through three different life opportunities that suddenly appear before her.
Presented for the first time in the program of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the collaborative film by directors Korina Avramidou and Kyriakos Tofarides, "Iman" interweaves in its narrative three stories dedicated to the search for redemption - the actions of their characters mark the difference between life and death, and their destinies are determined by actions in the past, by a sense of immense guilt, by a feeling of overwhelming loneliness...
Again, guilt is one of the main drivers in Ivan Gergolet's new film "The Man Without Guilt", presented as a project of the co-production forum Sofia Meetings. The story depicts the travails of a dedicated and sensitive caregiver who is driven by her own suffering and hopes to avenge the culprit of the death of her own husband and his other fellow workers. The film, a co-production between Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia, premiered at the Tallinn Film Festival.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Greek Film, the Greek Film Centre Award for Best First Feature, and the Youth Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Spyros Iakovides' "The Black Stone" tells the story of a desperate mother who, with the help of a Greek taxi driver of African descent, tries to find her missing son. In the director's own words, his film is "a look at a contemporary Greek tragedy - this story reflects a society and a country in decay".
Stefan Constantinescu's second feature film, "Man and Dog", is a co-production between Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Germany. The plot follows the transformation of an obsessive feeling of jealousy that overtakes a Romanian expatriate - he decides to quit his job abroad, return home and, despite the lack of evidence, start his own investigation, which is unclear where it will end... "Man and Dog" has been presented as a Sofia Meetings project and last year met with audiences at the Gothenburg, Cluj, and Turin festivals.
We are waiting for you at #CINEMA!
#27SofiaIFF
The debut film "Have You Seen This Woman?" by directors Dusan Zoric and Matija Gluscevic premiered in the independent, special Critics' Week program in Venice, and won the Best Director Award at the Bangkok World Cinema Festival. The plot of the co-production between Serbia and Croatia depicts a middle-aged woman's attempts to "get out of her skin" through three different life opportunities that suddenly appear before her.
Presented for the first time in the program of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the collaborative film by directors Korina Avramidou and Kyriakos Tofarides, "Iman" interweaves in its narrative three stories dedicated to the search for redemption - the actions of their characters mark the difference between life and death, and their destinies are determined by actions in the past, by a sense of immense guilt, by a feeling of overwhelming loneliness...
Again, guilt is one of the main drivers in Ivan Gergolet's new film "The Man Without Guilt", presented as a project of the co-production forum Sofia Meetings. The story depicts the travails of a dedicated and sensitive caregiver who is driven by her own suffering and hopes to avenge the culprit of the death of her own husband and his other fellow workers. The film, a co-production between Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia, premiered at the Tallinn Film Festival.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Greek Film, the Greek Film Centre Award for Best First Feature, and the Youth Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Spyros Iakovides' "The Black Stone" tells the story of a desperate mother who, with the help of a Greek taxi driver of African descent, tries to find her missing son. In the director's own words, his film is "a look at a contemporary Greek tragedy - this story reflects a society and a country in decay".
Stefan Constantinescu's second feature film, "Man and Dog", is a co-production between Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Germany. The plot follows the transformation of an obsessive feeling of jealousy that overtakes a Romanian expatriate - he decides to quit his job abroad, return home and, despite the lack of evidence, start his own investigation, which is unclear where it will end... "Man and Dog" has been presented as a Sofia Meetings project and last year met with audiences at the Gothenburg, Cluj, and Turin festivals.
We are waiting for you at #CINEMA!
#27SofiaIFF