Blind Dates wins top award at Sofia IFF
- Bulgaria’s most important film festival also honours titles from India, Denmark and Turkey
Saturday evening was a big moment for Georgian production Blind Dates, as Levan Koguashvili’s second feature won the Grand Prix of the 18th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival (6-16 March). Blind Dates also won the Best Director and the FIPRESCI awards.
During the ceremony hosted by the National Palace of Culture, the jury led by Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky also honoured Geethu Mohandas’ Liar’s Dice (India) with the Special Jury Award. The Best Documentary Award went to the acclaimed The Act of Killing [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the Danish-Norwegian-UK-Finnish co-production directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and nominated at this year’s Academy Awards. The documentary jury gave a Special Mention to Svetoslav Draganov’s Life Almost Wonderful.
The Domaine Boyar Award for Best Balkan Film went to Yozgat Blues [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a Turkish-German co-production directed by Mahmut Fazil Coskun, while Stephan Komandarev’s The Judgement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] received the Best Bulgarian Feature Award. The Audience Award also stayed within Bulgaria, with Svetoslav Stoyanov’s The Last Black Sea Pirates winning the trophy. Directors Georgi Djulgerov, Goran Paskaljevic and Dusan Hanak won the Sofia Award for their contribution to world cinema.
The festival’s co-production market, Sofia Meetings, gave awards to projects by Paul Negoescu (Never Let It Go, Romania), Milko Lazarov (Nanook, Bulgaria), Mira Fornay (Cook, F**k, Kill, Slovakia) and Miriam Khachvani (Dede, Georgia).
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