BOX OFFICE: Domestic Biopic about Legendary Football Player Sets All-time Opening Record in Bulgaria
Bulgaria 22-10-2024SOFIA: Dimitar Dimitrov’s biopic Gundi – Lengend of Love has set a record for the biggest opening weekend in the modern history of Bulgaria's film distribution with 726,364 EUR / 1,420,646 BGN gross. Released by NO BLINK on 18 October 2024, this independent production about the football player Georgi Asparuhov–Gundi has gathered 82,363 admissions from 948 screenings across 161 screens.
SOFIA: Czech director Klára Tasovská won the Best Female Director Award for her film I'm Not Everything I Want to Be at the 5th Sofia DocuMENTAL, held 29 September - 6 October 2024 in Sofia. Sofia DocuMental is an international festival for artistic documentary cinema with a focus on human rights and pressing social issues.
SOFIA: Bulgarian director Nikolay Stefanov follows the reopening of the cold case of his father’s killing 30 years ago in a documentary, while also exploring the ideas of masculinity and fatherhood. Making Friends with the Idea of a Father, which is currently in production, won the Award of the Institute of Documentary Film at the 28th Baltic Sea Docs Forum (1 – 6 September 2024).
VARNA: Triumph by Kristina Grozeva and Peter Valchanov won the Best Film Award at the 42nd Golden Rose National Film Festival, which was held in Varna 19 – 26 September 2024. The film also received the Best Screenplay Award, the Best Actress Award (Maria Bakalova and Margita Gosheva), the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers Award and the Audience Award.
VARNA: A total of 16 feature films, 19 short fiction films and five fiction TV series are screening in the three official competitions of the 42th Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival, which is taking place in Varna from 19 to 26 September 2024.
VARNA: The Japanese short film A Night at the Rest Area by Saki Muramoto won the Grand Prix at the 20th anniversary edition of the World Festival of Animated Film Varna, which screened 70 films in seven categories.
VARNA: The Argentinian/German coproduction Adios Buenos Aires by German Kral received the Grand Prix Golden Aphrodite at the 32nd edition of the International Film Festival Love is Folly, which took place in Varna 23 August – 1 September 2024.
SOFIA: Bulgarian screenwriter/director Yordan Petkov is currently in production with his first feature film Resonance, which is a coproduction between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. The project is supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center and has won several awards at pitching contests.
SOFIA: The Austrian/Argentinian coproduction The Klezmer Project by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann received the award for best international long documentary at the 4th edition of the Rhodope International Documentary Film Fest in Smolyan (RIFE), held in the Bulgarian town of Smolyan from 11 to 14 July 2024.
SOFIA: The Bulgarian/German coproduction German Lessons by Pavel Vesnakov received the award for Best Feature Film at the 3rd edition of the Sveti Vlas Film Fest. Stephan Komandarev won Best Director for his Bulgarian/German coproduction Blaga's Lessons, and both films shared the accolades for actors in a leading role.