The 29th Sofia International Film Festival handed out its awards on Saturday evening. The event took place in the capital’s National Palace of Culture, where Croatian director Rajko Grlic was presented with a special prize for his contributions to the art of film. The international jury, composed of directors Patricia Mazuy (jury chair), Pia Marais, Veit Helmer, Andrey M Paounov and actress Jaana Saarinen, handed the most prestigious Sofia City of Film Award to Honeymoon [+lee también:
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entrevista: Zhanna Ozirna
ficha de la película] (Ukraine) by Zhanna Ozirna, stating that the film, “despite the state of the world, builds real faith in cinema and in its metaphysical strength”. Honeymoon also received the Young Jury Award.

The Special Jury Award went to Cat’s Cry [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Serbia/Canada/Croatia) by Sanja Zivkovic, while Koya Kamura was crowned Best Director for his film Winter in Sokcho [+lee también:
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entrevista: Koya Kamura
ficha de la película] (France/South Korea). For her role in the same film, actress Bella Kim received a Special Mention.

The festival’s Balkan jury, composed of director Roman Bondarchuk, Bulgarian critic Petia Alexandrova and producer Oliver Neumann, plumped for Teodora Ana Mihai’s Traffic [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Romania/Belgium/Netherlands), while Bulgaria’s Triumph [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kristina Grozeva y Petar V…
ficha de la película] by Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, starring Maria Bakalova, received a Special Mention.

In the International Documentary Competition, the big winner was Dear Beautiful Beloved [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Juri Rechinsky, rewarded by a jury composed of producer Miha Cernec, Valentina Ganeva and Boris Despodov for its “deeply emotional and heart-wrenching take on humanity and suffering during a time of war”. The Documentary jury also awarded a Special Mention to Silent Observers [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eliza Petkova
ficha de la película] by Eliza Petkova.

A jury of festival programmers – Mihai Chililov (programmer, Transilvania IFF), Dimitris Kerkinos (programmer, Thessaloniki IFF) and Bernd Buder (artistic director of the FilmFestival Cottbus) – crowned Pavel G Vesnakov’s film Windless [+lee también:
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entrevista: Pavel G. Vesnakov
ficha de la película] (Bulgaria/Italy) as Best Bulgarian Feature. Windless also took home the FIPRESCI Jury Prize, as decided by members Tommaso Tocci (Italy), Hamed Soleimanzadeh (Iran) and Katerina Lambrinova (Bulgaria), “for its captivating cinematography” and “striking cinematic achievement”.

A total of 171 films from 58 countries were screened at the 29th Sofia International Film Festival. Repeat screenings of some titles will be available to Sofia audiences until the end of the month, and an online platform will make movies available nationwide until April. The full list of award winners is as follows:

Sofia City of Film Award
Honeymoon [+lee también:
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entrevista: Zhanna Ozirna
ficha de la película] - Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine)

Special Jury Award
Cat’s Cry [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Sanja Zivkovic (Serbia/Canada/Croatia)

Best Director
Koya Kamura - Winter in Sokcho [+lee también:
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entrevista: Koya Kamura
ficha de la película] (France/South Korea)

Special Mention
Bella Kim - Winter in Sokcho

Best Bulgarian Short Film
Nicole - Elena Toncheva (Bulgaria)

Best Balkan Film
Traffic [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Teodora Ana Mihai (Romania/Belgium/Netherlands)
Special Mention
Triumph [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kristina Grozeva y Petar V…
ficha de la película] - Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece)

Best Documentary
Dear Beautiful Beloved [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Juri Rechinsky (Austria)
Special Mention
Silent Observers [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eliza Petkova
ficha de la película] - Eliza Petkova (Bulgaria/Germany)

Best Bulgarian Feature Film
Windless [+lee también:
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tráiler
entrevista: Pavel G. Vesnakov
ficha de la película] - Pavel G Vesnakov (Bulgaria/Italy)

FIPRESCI Award
Windless - Pavel G Vesnakov

Award of the Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics
Triumph - Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov

Audience Award
Flesh - Dimitar Stoyanovich (Bulgaria)

Young Jury Award
Honeymoon - Zhanna Ozirna

Youth Audience Award
The Story of Frank and Nina [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Paola Randi (Italy/Switzerland)

Sofia Award for Contribution to the Art of Film
Iossif Sarchadzhiev, director and actor (Bulgaria)
Rajko Grlic, director (Croatia)

Special Award of Sofia International Film Festival
Kosta Bikov, director (Bulgaria)
Bohdan Sláma, director (Czech Republic)
Szabolcs Hajdu, director (Hungary)