29
May
2018

Sofia Meetings' partner, Goethe-Institut’s FIRST FILMS FIRST training program, selected two Bulgarian projects in 2018

We are excited to inform you that the 3rd edition of Goethe-Institut’s FIRST FILMS FIRST program  has started its work within the framework of the Transylvania International Film Festival!

FIRST FILMS FIRST is Sofia Meetings' partner and it is an intensive professional training program aimed at supporting young Southeast European film directors to develop their first feature-length fiction film.
For the first time this year FIRST FILMS FIRST selected two Bulgarian projects!

FIRST FILMS FIRST consists of 4 modules, over a period of one year, which allow the participants to develop their first feature film project, step-by-step, through different phases of project development. The 3rd edition of FIRST FILMS FIRST program started its first module for 2018 - 'DEVELOPING STORIES TO SCRIPTS' within the framework of the Transylvania International Film Festival, Cluj-Napoca / Romania. The new young talented directors Emilios Avraam (Cyprus), Selcen Ergun (Turkey), Ivan Gergolet (Slovenia), Magdelena Ilieva (Bulgaria), Igor Jelinović (Croatia), Stefka Mancheva (Bulgaria), Haris Raftogiannis (Greece) and Vojin Vasović (Serbia) have started working on their scripts with our inspiring tutors Gabriele Brunnenmeyer and Srdjan Koljević.

It is important to remind you that from 16 participants of the first 2 generations of FIRST FILMS FIRST, 2 films have already been shot and are in post-production now and 6 more projects got support for production in their home countries. We're sure we can expect a lot of great Southeast European films in cinemas soon!

The participants in FIRST FILMS FIRST sincerely thank to all partners for all the support and work on the FIRST FILMS FIRST project and they are thankful to the dear friends from TIFF for their always warm hospitality. In March 2019 we'll be expecting them for their fourth module in the framework of SOFIA FILM FEST and SOFIA MEETINGS!

In 17-th Transylvania International Film Festival's program this year there will be special "Focus Bulgaria" - the best Bulgarian productions of the past two years will be screened in this section. The selection was made up of eight titles from the latest generation of Bulgarian auteurs - Stephan Komandarev’s "Directions", Ilian Djevelekov’s "Omnipresent", Ralitza Petrova’s debut "Godless", Ilian Metev's "3/4", Rouzie Hassanova’s "Radiogram", Konstantin Bojanov’s "Light Thereafter", and two of the best Bulgarian documentaries of recent years - Tonislav Hristov’s "The Good Postman" and Trzvetan Dragnev’s "Village People". "Focus Bulgaria" is organized by Transylvania International Film Festival in partnership with the Bulgarian Film Centre and the Bulgarian Embassy in Romania.