09/10/2025 - Lina Vdovîi has taken home the Best Woman Director Award, while In Hell with Ivo by Kristina Nikolova received the Audience Award and a Special Jury Mention

Protagonist Ivo Dimchev accepting the Audience Award for In Hell with Ivo by Kristina Nikolova

The sixth edition of Sofia Documental has come to a close with an awards ceremony held at the House of Cinema after running from 25 September-6 October. The event marked the culmination of this year’s edition of Bulgaria’s only festival dedicated to women in documentary filmmaking, unspooling under the motto “Natural Intelligence Strikes Back”. The festival presented 30 films enjoying their premieres in Bulgaria, amongst which were some of the winners of the most prestigious international awards.

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The international jury – composed of Marta Golba-Naumann, head of Her Docs Foundation, Poland; German film editor Stephan Krumbiegel; and Bulgarian producer Katya Trichkova – announced the winners of the competition programme.

The Grand Prize for Best Woman Director was presented to Romanian filmmaker Lina Vdovîi for Tata [+see also:
film review
interview: Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc
film profile], co-directed by Radu Ciorniciuc. In its statement, the jury praised the helmer for her deeply personal and powerful storytelling: “With exceptional courage, Lina Vdovîi turns her personal story into an emotional exploration of violence and trauma. Her film opens up space for reflection and understanding of the intergenerational mechanisms of pain, while also carrying the hope that with each new generation, we will learn to break these patterns.”

Supported by the Bulgarian Fund for Women, the award is symbolised by a glass hammer statuette designed by artist Svetlana Mircheva – representing the strength and resilience of women’s voices in documentary cinema.

Meanwhile, In Hell with Ivo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by local filmmaker Kristina Nikolova, one of the most talked-about movies of the festival, received both a Special Jury Mention and the Audience Award. The jury highlighted Nikolova’s ability to capture the humanity behind her subject: “We award a Special Mention to a director who, with subtlety and insight, manages to look beyond the stage persona of a talented, provocative and often rebellious figure, tracing his personal journey through a society marked by prejudice.”

Accepting the Audience Award, presented during the inaugural event of the new open-air initiative The Big Cinema in central Sofia, the film’s protagonist, theatre maker, singer-songwriter, visual artist and queer activist Ivo Dimchev, remarked: “The best thing about In Hell with Ivo, in my opinion, is the audience itself – the audience at the home concerts, which are filmed and shown in Kristina Nikolova’s documentary. For me, the audience has always been the most important work of art.”

Sofia Documental is organised by the Balkan Documentary Center and forms part of the cultural calendar of the Sofia Municipality. The festival is realised with the support of the National Culture Fund, the National Film Center, and numerous international cultural institutes and embassies.

Here is the complete list of award winners at Sofia Documental 2025:

Best Woman Director (Grand Prize)
Tata [+see also:
film review
interview: Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc
film profile] – Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania/Germany/Netherlands)

Special Jury Mention
In Hell with Ivo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria)

Audience Award
In Hell with Ivo – Kristina Nikolova