It’s a very special anniversary year for the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2026, the biggest international film gathering in Bulgaria celebrates its 30th edition, running from 12–31 March. The opening film will be Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just an Accident [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jafar Panahi
fiche film] and Panahi will receive the festival's annual prize, the FIPRESCI Platinum award. During the festival dates, and online shortly afterwards, audiences will have the chance to see a total of 145 feature films across fiction, documentary and animation. Sofia Meetings, the prestigious co-production market, will run from 18-22 March during the SIFF days.

For the 24th time in its 30-year history, the festival’s international jury will determine the Grand Prize in the competition for a debut or second narrative film, "Sofia - City of Film", sponsored by the Sofia Municipality. This year, the jury is chaired by Hungarian director György Pálfi and will judge 12 films, all first or second features. Of the competing titles, five are Bulgarian co-productions: two come straight from the Berlinale, Ralitza Petrova's Lust [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ralitza Petrova
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interview : Geneviève Dulude-de Celles
fiche film] (Canada/Italy/Bulgaria/Belgium), respectively premiered in Forum and in competition, joined by Amerissa Basta’s Life In a Beat (Greece/Cyprus/Bulgaria/North Macedonia/Montenegro/France), Gözde Kural’s Cinema Jazireh [+lire aussi :
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interview : Gözde Kural
fiche film] (Turkey/Iran/Bulgaria/Romania), and Alexander Kosev’s Women Out of Order (Bulgaria). The other titles in competition are Kai Stänicke’s Berlinale Perspectives entry Trial of Hein [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kai Stänicke
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interview : Myrsini Aristidou
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interview : Ondřej Provazník
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fiche film] (Romania), and Toronto selections Nomad Shadow (USA/Spain/France) by Eimi Imanishi and The Condor Daughter (Bolivia/Peru/Uruguay) by Álvaro Olmos Torrico, as well as Melik Kuru’s Dump of Untitled Pieces (Turkey).

In addition to the International Competition, the festival welcomes its usual Balkan Competition, Documentary Competition, Teen Competition and Bulgarian Short Film Competition, where all films will be judged by respective international juries, including the FIPRESCI Jury.

The festival will partner with the British Council, Institute Français, The Czech Cultural Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute to bring in guests, host masterclasses, and show revered cinema of masters new and old. Among the special guests of the anniversary edition are Scottish filmmaker David McKenzie who will present his latest film, the crime-heist thriller Fuze (United Kingdom), French auteur Arnaud Desplechin with his latest film, co-written by Bulgaria’s Kamen Velkovsky, Two Pianos [+lire aussi :
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interview : Arnaud Desplechin
fiche film] (France), and French documentary filmmaker Nora Philippe. McKenzie, Desplechin, and jury president Pálfi will all receive the Special award of the Sofia International Film Festival.

The festival celebrates outstanding contributions to the art of cinema as customary with its Sofia Award from the Sofia Municipality, given to multiple recipients, including Bulgarian actor and director Ivaylo Hristov and cinematographer Emil Hristov who are also frequent collaborators. There will be a special gala dedicated to Polish actor Jan Englert, who will be presenting the latest film he stars in, Dominika Montean-Pańków’s The Crossroads (Poland).