SOFIA: Bulgarian director Ilian Djevelekov is in final postproduction with his six-part TV series The Portal, backed by the Bulgarian National Television, with Miramar film serving as executive producer.

SOFIA: Bulgaria’s major annual film festival Cinemania, which was postponed several times because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is finally taking place 8 – 22 April 2021 in cinemas at 30% of their capacity.

SOFIA: Bulgaria's Ministry of Health has allowed the re-opening of cinemas on 1 April 2021, together with theatres, museums, galleries, libraries and circus performances, but only at 30% of their capacity.

SOFIA: The US company Film Movement snapped up North American rights from sales company Films2C to Ivaylo Hristov’s black and white drama Fear, produced by Pro Film. The story follows the revolt and the opposition of a jobless teacher towards her fellow villagers, who deny her relationship with a black refugee.

SOFIA: The 18th edition of Sofia Meetings, which took place online 17- 24 March 2021, announced nine of its twelve awards during an online awards ceremony, while the remaining three will be announced later during the year. Pavle Vuckovic‘s Frost, produced by Plan 9, about a female detective investigating a criminal case in an unusual region, won the Ten Dots Film & TV Virtual Production Studio award of services equal to the amount of 10,000 EUR.

SOFIA: The 18th edition of the Sofia Meetings coproduction market, taking place online till 24 March 2021, included TV series projects for the first time. Eight projects were presented, three from Bulgaria, two from the Czech Republic, two from Cyprus and one from Serbia. Four of the projects were selected in partnership with Midpoint TV Launch, two with the French TV industry event Series Series, and two projects applied directly.

SOFIA: Iuli Gerbase’s science fiction debut The Pink Cloud (Prana Filmes) won the Sofia City of Film Grand Prix in the international competition of the 25th Anniversary Sofia IFF, with a prize of 7,000 EUR offered by the Sofia Municipality. The official ceremony took place at the National Palace of Culture on 20 March 2021, a day before the ten day closing of cinemas that starts on 22 March 2021.

SOFIA: All cinemas throughout the country will be closed from 22 March to 31 March 2021, due to the introduction of stricter anti COVID-19 measures.

SOFIA: The 18th edition of the Sofia Meetings coproduction market, set to take place from 17 to 24 March 2021 within the 25th Anniversary Sofia International Film Festival, will be held online, due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In less than a year, the organisers of the event are forced to do so for the second time, as its previous edition took place in July 2020 instead of March 2020.

SOFIA: France’s mk2 Films has picked up Mina Mileva’s and Vesela Kazakova’s second feature film Women Do Cry, a Bulgarian/French coproduction from Sofia based Activist 38 and Ici et La Productions. The plot of the film refers to gender-based violence in the female directing duo’s native country Bulgaria.