11-12-2020

FNE at Golden Rhyton 2020: Before the End and Santiago Win Bulgarian Golden Rhytons

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    Before the End by Eldora Traykova Before the End by Eldora Traykova

    SOFIA: The 25th edition of the national Golden Rhyton festival of animated and documentary films, held online 4-10 December 2020, gave the best documentary film award to Eldora Traykova’s Before the End and the best animated film award to Andrey Koulev’s Santiago. Traykova also took the best documentary director award, and Vladimir Shomov’s Brainstorming brought him the best animated film director award.

    Before the End, a sensitive observation of the last days of a village doomed to disappear due to the impending construction of coal mines, was described by the national jury as “a masterful artistic suggestion of a looming apocalypse”. Santiago, inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, was defined as “a truthful emotional narrative with a bright graphic imagery”.

    The two Special Jury awards went to Zdravko Dragnev’s and Tzvetan Dragnev’s Passengers, a group portrait of dreaming of a trip to Norway by people living in a poor village by the Danube, and to Sotir Gelev’s Phantom, a highly stylised painted tale about the waste of one's own life. Dolya Gavanski’s international success Women’s Day brought her the best documentary debut award, while Iliya Shekerdzhiev received the best animation debut award for Bolt.

    Adela Peeva’s courageous Silence with Dignity, dedicated to Irina Aktasheva and Hristo Piskov, the famous filmmaking couple whose films were banned during communism, won the prize of the Bulgarian Critics Guild and the Bulgarian National Film Archive.

    Five more films were distinguished with special mentions.

    Golden Rhyton Award Winners:

    Best Documentary Film Golden Rhyton
    Before the End (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Eldora Traykova
    Produced by ProFilm – Assen Vladimirov
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Best Animated Film Golden Rhyton
    Santiago by Andrey KoulevSantiago (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Andrey Koulev
    Produced by Koulev Film Production
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Special Jury Award for Documentary
    Passengers (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Zdravko Dragnev, Tzvetan Dragnev
    Produced by Gala Film
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Special Jury Award for Animated Film
    Phantom (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Sotir Gelev
    Produced by Four Hands Studio
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Best Documentary Director
    Eldora Traykova for Before the End
    Produced by ProFilm – Assen Vladimirov
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Best Animated Film Director Award
    Brainstorming (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Vladimir Shomov
    Produced by ART 47 Ltd – Mariyana Pavlova
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Best Documentary Debut
    Dolya Gavanski for Women’s Day (UK, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria)
    Produced by Thea Films / Cultural Solidarity Media (UK), Elemag Pictures (Germany), MDR (Germany), Agitprop (Bulgaria)
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Best Animated Film Debut Award
    Bolt (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Iliya Shekerdzhiev
    Produced by Attract – Rumen Barosov
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Plovdiv Municipality Award
    Lucifer (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Maria Nikolova
    Produced by Four Hands Studio
    Supported by Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality

    Honourable Mention for a Documentary Portrait
    Partsalev (Bulgaria)
    Directed byValentina Fidanova-Kolarova
    Produced by Korund-X
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center
     
    Special Mention - Documentary Films Competition
    The White Eagles (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Vladimir Shterianov
    Produced by Doli Media Studio – Dobromir Chochov

    Special Mention - Documentary Films Competition
    Dorina (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Atanas Kiryakov
    Produced by Ars Digital Studio – Ivan Tonev
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Special Mention - Animated Films Competition
    Marmalade (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Radostina Neykova
    Produced by Korund X
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    Special Mention - Animated Films Competition
    The Mud Man (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Plamen Nikolov
    Produced by N Film Productios
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    The Award of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers
    Against the Course of Time (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Dimitar Sardzhev
    Produced by Screening Emotions
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    The Critics Guild Award Documentary Films Competition
    Silence With Dignity (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Adela Peeva
    Produced by Adela Media
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center, Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality

    The Critics Guild Award Animated Films Competition
    Phantom (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Sotir Gelev
    Produced by Four Hands Studio
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center

    The Bulgarian National Film Archive Award
    Silence With Dignity (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Adela Peeva
    Produced by Adela Media
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center, Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality

    Academica 21 Association Award
    We Loved Them So Much (Bulgaria)
    Directed by Ivan Ivanov
    Produced by Magic Shop – Georgi Nikolov
    Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center