SOFIA: Sofia Meetings, 13-16 March 2014, will host the Europa Cinemas workshop "New approaches and audiences in the digital age."

During their participation in the 18th Sofia IFF famed Eastern European directors will be awarded with honorary distinctions: Czech Jirí Menzel will receive the title Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts "Krastyo Sarafov" (NATFA) and Serbian Goran Paskaljevic will receive the Sofia award.

SOFIA: The 18th Sofia International Film Fest will screen 34 Bulgarian films including ten supported by the Bulgarian NFC and the rest of the production mostly privately financed.

SOFIA: The Bulgarian branch of the Mumbai based Ciné Grand exhibitor chain Ciné Grand Bulgaria launched commercial activities in Sofia on 13 January 2014 with the renovation of a six hall multiplex and the announcement that the company plans more multiplex investment.

The Bulgarian National Film Center has selected three Romanian projects for minority co-production support: Nae Caranfil’s 6.9 on the Richter Scale, produced by Christian Mungiu’s Mobra Films, Tudor Giurgiu's Christian, produced by Libra Film Production and Radu Jude’s Aferim, produced by Ada Solomon’s HiFIlm Productions.

Known for his delicate but continuing interest in the fate of the Balkan people award-winning director Kostadin Bonev is in postproduction on his third feature film The Sinking of Sozopolis (working title A Town, named Salvation).

SOFIA: The 27th edition of Cinemania went ahead despite political protests which rocked Bulgaria in November.

SOFIA: The newly renovated and digitalised Odeon cinema, which since 1972 has primarily screened archive films, showed its first commercially distributed film, Woody Allen’s 2013 Blue Jasmine.

SOFIA: French/German public broadcaster ARTE announced it is acquiring Because Of Mum, a 12 minute animated Bulgarian film, produced by Activist 38.

SOFIA: Rangel Vulchanov, voted the best Bulgarian director of the 20th century, died on 30 September 2013 after a long battle with cancer.