Bulgaria uses Sneakers to approach Oscars

by Stefan Dobroiu

17/09/2012 - Sneakers, the first feature from Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov, was selected by the Bulgarian national film centre to represent the country at next year's Academy Awards. The film is produced by Galina Toneva and Kiril Kirilov, while the production companies are Gala Film and Sofilm.

Sneakers explores the adventures of six young Bulgarians whose lives intersect during the course of a summer spent on one of the last remaining wild and empty beaches on the Black Sea coast. They have all abandoned the city and left their worries and problems behind them - disagreements with parents, break-ups, financial straits.... In the virginal natural surroundings they try to find a temporary paradise and freedom, but life will find a way to get back to them.

The film is written by Valeri Yordanov, who also stars. The other actors are Philip Avramov, Ivan Barnev, Vassil Draganov, Ivo Arakov, and Ina Nikolova. The DoP is Rali Raltchev. Sneakers was selected at several international film festivals, including Karlovy Vary (in the East of the West competition) and Moscow, where it won a special mention from the competition jury. The film has just been announced in the CineBlackSea competition at the Romanian IFF (September 27 - October 7).

Sneakers was the fifth (after Love.net, Operation Shmenti Capelli, Tilt, and Footsteps in the Sand) most successful domestic release of 2011, with 41,000 admissions.

Since then, Gala Film has produced Three [trailer] (Bulgarian title Krapetz), Kiril Stankov's first feature. The story centres on two former best friends, Dana (Kassiel Noa Asher) and Dju (Paraskeva Djukelova), who try to find peace and rekindle their friendship in a small village on the Black Sea coast. The film had a €760,000 budget. An unfinished version was screened at the most recent edition of Sofia IFF.