Every autumn, virtually the entire Bulgarian film industry flocks to the seaside city of Varna for the Golden Rose Film Festival. At its 41st edition (20-28 September), the gathering is showcasing the newest Bulgarian features and minority co-productions, some of them meeting the audience for the very first time. The event opens tonight with Tonislav Hristov’s documentary The Last Seagull [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Tonislav Hristov
scheda film] (Finland/Norway/Bulgaria).

The director of the Bulgarian National Film Center, Peter D Todorov, tells Cineuropa that the festival’s main attraction is the “strong competition between young talent and prominent Bulgarian auteurs, and may the best one win the Golden Rose”. One particular highlight of the festival is its short-film competition (the jury of which sees the involvement of Cineuropa’s very own Mariana Hristova), and this year, as many as 25 shorts will have the rather rare opportunity to be shown on the big screen.

The 12 features competing for the Golden Rose are Sissy Denkova’s Scent of Linden (USA/Bulgaria); Avelina Prat’s Vasil [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Avelina Prat
scheda film] (Spain/Bulgaria); Theodore Ushev’s Phi 1.618 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Bulgaria/Canada); Georgi Kostov’s The Pulse of the Dance (Bulgaria); Ivan Vladimirov’s Plague (Bulgaria); Stephan Komandarev’s Blaga’s Lessons [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stephan Komandarev
scheda film] (Bulgaria/Germany), which is also the Bulgarian candidate for next year’s Academy Awards (see the news); Peter Rusev’s Apostol: A Gentle Knight in Brutalia (Bulgaria); Georgi Dyulgerov’s Memoir of a Betrayal (Bulgaria); Yana Titova’s Dyad [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yana Titova
scheda film] (Bulgaria); Tonislav Hristov’s The Good Driver [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Finland/Bulgaria/Sweden); Boby Zahariev’s Game of Trust (Bulgaria); and Marian Valev’s Chalga (Bulgaria).

Several TV-show pilots will be screened at the festival: War of the Letters, which tells a story set in 10th-century Bulgaria; the family drama The Grapes of Guilt; and the thrillers The Hunt for Salamander and Autumn of the Demon. Several Bulgarian classics will also be featured – for example, Atanas Traykov's Thorn Apple, which stars actress Meglena Karalambova, gracing this edition’s poster.