06/03/2013 - Bulgaria's most important film festival will screen more than 200 films between March 7-17

Bulgaria's biggest film event, the Sofia International Film Festival, begins tomorrow (March 7), with more than 200 films in the programme. Twelve first and second features will vie for the festival's top prize in the international competition, while popular sidebars will screen important auteur films from 2012, and new local and Balkan features.

For the third time in the festival's history, two Bulgarians film have a chance to win the top prize: Kiril Stankov's July (formerly known as Three) and Emil Hristov's The Color of the Chameleon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emil Christov
film profile]. European productions and co-productions such as A Month in Thailand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile] (Paul Negoescu, Romania), Mona (Inara Coleman, Iceland-Latvia), Panihida [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Ana Felicia Scutelnicu, Moldova-Germany), Honour (Shan Khan, UK), and Oh Boy! [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jan Ole Gerster
film profile] (Jan Ole Gerster, Germany) will fight for the awards with Gimme the Loot (Adam Leon, US), The Porcelain Horse (Javier Andrade, Ecuador), Sharkiya (Ami Livne, Israel), and The Last Elvis (Armando Bo, Argentina).

The international jury is lead by Turkish director Yeshim Ustaoglo. She will decide the winners together with Romanian actress Ada Condeescu, directors Miroslav Momcilovic (Serbia) and Konstantin Bojanov (Bulgaria), and British producer Mike Downey. Ustaoglu and Momcilovic have features in the Balkan competition, together with Romanian (Everybody in Our Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile] and Of Snails and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu
film profile]), Serbian, Greek and Turkish productions.

Among the festival's guests of honor are Timo Vuorensola, director of Iron Sky [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tero Kaukomaa
interview: Timo Vuorensola
interview: Timo Vuorensola
film profile], Polish director Andrzej Jakimovski (Imagine [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Serbian director Srdjan Golubovic. The Big Prizes sidebar will showcase winners of important awards at Cannes, Venice and Berlin and other popular festivals around the world. The festival also has a Cinema Today - Great Masters sidebar, with 20 new features signed by Christian Petzold, Danis Tanovic and Susanne Bier, among others.

The 17^th Sofia IFF will present director Costa Gavras with the Prize of Sofia trophy. The winners of this edition will be announced on March 16.