Sofia International Film Festival
Encyclopedia
Sofia International Film Festival (Sofia Film Fest) (Bulgarian
: Международен София Филм Фест, София Филм Фест) gathers together in Sofia
films, guests, stars, journalists and cinema fans. Featured in Variety’s
Top 50 of cinema festivals, the event presents Bulgaria
to the world as the host one of the important film festivals in Europe
and takes place annually in March. What started as a thematic music film festival , went through 14 previous editions to become the cinema event of the year, bringing the current world cinema trends to the domestic viewers in Bulgaria and the latest in Bulgarian cinema
to the rest of the world.
Since 1997 more than 1,600 feature films and documentaries have been screened within the festival’s framework. More than 1,000 distinguished guests have attended, including established professionals such as Wim Wenders
, Volker Schlondorff
, Katja Riemann
and Karl Baumgartner (Germany), Alan Parker
, Peter Greenaway
, Terry Jones
, Michael Palin
, Tony Palmer
and David Mackenzie
(United Kingdom), Nikita Mikhalkov
, Andrei Konchalovsky
, Karen Shakhnazarov
and Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
(Russia), Jiri Menzel
, Jan Sverak
, Jan Hrebejk
and Petr Zelenka
(Czech Republic), Emir Kusturica
(Yugoslavia), Krzysztof Zanussi
(Poland), Otar Iosseliani
(Georgia), Jean-Claude Carrière
, Agnes Varda
, Siegfried and Jacques Dorfmann (France), Assumpta Serna
(Spain), Bent Hamer
and Unni Straume
(Norway), Jafar Panahi
and Babak Payami
(Iran), Jerry Schatzberg
, Michael Wadleigh
and Lech Kowalski
(USA), Jos Stelling
(the Netherlands), Mika Kaurismaki
(Finland), Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
(Iceland), Lone Scherfig
(Denmark), Kornel Mundruczo
(Hungary), Goran Markovic, Goran Paskaljević
, Radivoje Andric, Dusan Milic, Srđan Karanović and Srđan Dragojević (Serbia) and many others.
The festival is organized by Art Fest under the auspices of the Municipality of Sofia and in partnership with the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture
, the National Palace of Culture
, the National Film Center and the Bulgarian National Television
with the support of the MEDIA programme of the European Commission
, national and foreign cultural institutes and sponsors.
For its 10th anniversary as an international cinema event in the year 2010 named Year of Bulgarian Cinema , Sofia International Film Festival received as present the recognition from FIAPF
(International Federation of Film Producers Associations) - it was accredited as competitive festival specialized in first and second films. Since its creation the director of the festival has been Stefan Kitanov .
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
: Международен София Филм Фест, София Филм Фест) gathers together in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
films, guests, stars, journalists and cinema fans. Featured in Variety’s
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
Top 50 of cinema festivals, the event presents Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
to the world as the host one of the important film festivals in Europe
Film festivals in Europe
-Albania:-Armenia:-Austria:-Belgium:-Bosnia and Herzegovina:-Bulgaria:-Croatia:-Czech Republic:-Cyprus:-Deaf community:-Denmark:-Estonia:-Finland:-France:-Germany:-Greece:-Hungary:-Iceland:-Ireland:-Italy:...
and takes place annually in March. What started as a thematic music film festival , went through 14 previous editions to become the cinema event of the year, bringing the current world cinema trends to the domestic viewers in Bulgaria and the latest in Bulgarian cinema
Cinema of Bulgaria
-Actors and actresses:*Nikolay Binev*Stoyan Bachvarov*Rusi Chanev*Georgi Cherkelov*Stefan Danailov*Itzhak Fintzi*Georgi Georgiev*Kiril Gospodinov*Stanislav Ianevski*Georgi Kaloyanchev*Velko Kanev*Apostol Karamitev*Nevena Kokanova*Todor Kolev...
to the rest of the world.
Since 1997 more than 1,600 feature films and documentaries have been screened within the festival’s framework. More than 1,000 distinguished guests have attended, including established professionals such as Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
, Volker Schlondorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
, Katja Riemann
Katja Riemann
Katja Hannchen Leni Riemann is a German actress.- Life and work :Born as the daughter of two teachers, Katja Riemann spent her childhood in Weyhe, near Bremen. After high school she went to Hamburg to study music and theater...
and Karl Baumgartner (Germany), Alan Parker
Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
, Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer is an American football guard in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. The former University of Missouri guard who was selected by the St. Louis Rams. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers after being cut in the 2006 preseason by St. Louis...
and David Mackenzie
David Mackenzie (director)
David Mackenzie is a Scottish film director. His brother is actor Alastair MacKenzie.-Selected films:*Perfect Sense starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green*You Instead David Mackenzie (born 10 May 1966) is a Scottish film director. His brother is actor Alastair MacKenzie.-Selected films:*Perfect...
(United Kingdom), Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union.Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the distinguished, artistic Mikhalkov family. His great grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a Galitzine princess...
, Andrei Konchalovsky
Andrei Konchalovsky
Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky is a Soviet-American and Russian film director, film producer and screenwriter....
, Karen Shakhnazarov
Karen Shakhnazarov
Karen Georgievich Shakhnazarov is a Soviet and Russian-Armenian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He became the Director General of the Mosfilm studios in 1998.Shakhnazarov is the son of a prominent politician of Armenian descent, Georgy Shakhnazarov....
and Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov is a film director, producer and screenwriter from Tajikistan. His most internationally famous film is the comedy Luna Papa . He won a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his movie Kosh ba kosh ....
(Russia), Jiri Menzel
Jirí Menzel
Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...
, Jan Sverak
Jan Sverák
Jan Svěrák is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...
, Jan Hrebejk
Jan Hrebejk
Jan Hřebejk is a Czech film director.-Early life and education:Born in Prague, Hřebejk studied together with his classmate Petr Jarchovský at high school. Now Jarchovsky is a frequent collaborator as a screenwriter...
and Petr Zelenka
Petr Zelenka
Petr Zelenka is an award-winning Czech playwright and director of theatre and film. His films have been recognized at international festivals in Moscow and Rotterdam...
(Czech Republic), Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
(Yugoslavia), Krzysztof Zanussi
Krzysztof Zanussi
Krzysztof Zanussi, is a Polish producer and film director.He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop...
(Poland), Otar Iosseliani
Otar Iosseliani
- Filmography :* Akvarel * Sapovnela * April / Ap'rili* Tudzhi * Falling Leaves, / Giorgobistve* Georgian Ancient Songs / Dzveli qartuli simgera...
(Georgia), Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...
, Agnes Varda
Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....
, Siegfried and Jacques Dorfmann (France), Assumpta Serna
Assumpta Serna
Assumpta Serna is a Spanish actress. She is known for her roles in I, The Worst of All portraying famous Mexican religious scholar Sor Juana, Nostradamus, The Craft, and Wild Orchid, although she may be most remembered for her role as Peninsular War guerrilla commander Teresa Moreno in the first...
(Spain), Bent Hamer
Bent Hamer
Bent Hamer is a film director, writer and producer, born in Sandefjord, Norway in 1956.-Biography:Hamer studied film theory and literature at the University of Stockholm and the Stockholm Film School. In addition to his feature films, he has written and directed a number of short films and...
and Unni Straume
Unni Straume
Unni Straume is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. Her film Drømspel was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Til en ukjent * Avsporing...
(Norway), Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker and is one of the most influential filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave movement. He has gained recognition from film theorists and critics worldwide and received numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the...
and Babak Payami
Babak Payami
-Biography:Born in Tehran in 1966, Baback Payami studied cinema at the University of Toronto during the early 90's. In 1998, he returned to Iran after an almost two decade to produce and direct his debut "One More Day" or “Secret Ballot”. This flim describes what happens on election day when an...
(Iran), Jerry Schatzberg
Jerry Schatzberg
Jerry Schatzberg is a photographer and film director.-Career:Schatzberg was born to a Jewish family of furriers and grew up in the Bronx. He photographed for magazines such as Vogue, Esquire and McCalls. He made his debut as a feature film director with 1970's Puzzle of a Downfall Child starring...
, Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh is an American movie director and cinematographer renowned for his groundbreaking documentary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Woodstock....
and Lech Kowalski
Lech Kowalski
Lech Kowalski is an American film director of Polish origins. His most notable film is thedocumentary, D.O.A. subtitled "A Rite of Passage", which chronicled the burgeoning UK punk scene at the tail-end of the 70's, and included footage of the Sex Pistols' abortive 1978 American Tour...
(USA), Jos Stelling
Jos Stelling
Jos Stelling is a Dutch film director and screenwriter. He has directed 12 films, and is working on his new film The Girl and Death, in which Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks will play the lead role....
(the Netherlands), Mika Kaurismaki
Mika Kaurismäki
Mika Juhani Kaurismäki is a Finnish film director.He is the elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki, and the father of Maria Kaurismäki who graduated from Tampere School of Art and Media in 2008 with her movie Sideline.Mika Kaurismäki has lived in Brazil since approximately 1992 and has made several...
(Finland), Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson , sometimes credited as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic film director....
(Iceland), Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
(Denmark), Kornel Mundruczo
Kornél Mundruczó
Kornél Mundruczó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has directed 15 short and feature films since 1998. His film Johanna was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival....
(Hungary), Goran Markovic, Goran Paskaljević
Goran Paskaljevic
Goran Paskaljević is a Serbian film director. He was raised by his grandparents in Niš, following the divorce of his parents, and 14 years later returned to Belgrade where he worked in his stepfather's cinema....
, Radivoje Andric, Dusan Milic, Srđan Karanović and Srđan Dragojević (Serbia) and many others.
The festival is organized by Art Fest under the auspices of the Municipality of Sofia and in partnership with the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Culture (Bulgaria)
The Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria is the ministry charged with overseeing and stimulating the cultural work in the country and preserving its cultural heritage...
, the National Palace of Culture
National Palace of Culture
The National Palace of Culture , located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the largest multifunctional congress, conference, convention and exhibition centre in Southeastern Europe...
, the National Film Center and the Bulgarian National Television
Bulgarian National Television
The Bulgarian National Television or BNT is the public broadcaster of Bulgaria. The company was founded in 1959 and began broadcasting on December 26 of the same year. It began broadcasting in color in 1970...
with the support of the MEDIA programme of the European Commission
Media Plus
The MEDIA Programme is a European Union programme designed to support for the European audiovisual sector. It is currently in its fourth generation, with 1991‒1995 and 1996‒2000, 2001‒2006 being the previous three. The continuation of the programme is in discussion...
, national and foreign cultural institutes and sponsors.
For its 10th anniversary as an international cinema event in the year 2010 named Year of Bulgarian Cinema , Sofia International Film Festival received as present the recognition from FIAPF
FIAPF
The FIAPF based in Paris, created in 1933, is an organization composed with 31 member associations from 25 of the leading audiovisual production countries...
(International Federation of Film Producers Associations) - it was accredited as competitive festival specialized in first and second films. Since its creation the director of the festival has been Stefan Kitanov .