Festival director Stefan Kitanov said, “A very positive point in our work is that during the SIFF extended version, which will start on 17 March 2014 and last till the end of the month, audiences from ten Bulgarian towns will see representative selections from 160 features and documentaries and 70 shorts”.
Directed by Kosta Burov and produced by BulFilm – Andrei Altaparmakov Rat Poison, an ironic story about four juvenile offenders, who, after 1989, manage to open their own bank and to go into bankruptcy, is the Bulgarian entry in the official SIFF feature film competition. This is the first screening in Sofia after having been shown at the 21st Varna Love is Folly IFF last summer.
Directed by Svetoslav Stoyanov, produced by Agitprop and internationally sold by German Kloos & Co. the ironic fairy tale The Last Black Sea Pirates is the Bulgarian entry in the Balkan competition. With ten more significant titles from around the world it is also part of the documentary competition.
Together with Greek Anemon and Forest Troop, Croatian Nukleus Film, UAE Veritas Films and in association with eleven TV channels Agitprop is also the Bulgarian coproducer of Kismet, directed by Nina Maria Paschalidou. The intriguing documentary explores the extraordinary popularity of Turkish soap operas in the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans and Asia. Sold internationally by Canadian Film Transit the film is also part of the documentary competition. According to Agitprop’s producer Martichka Bozhilova, “As the main characters in Kismet are women the film was simultaneously broadcast by ARTE and Al Jazeera on March 8th.”
The Grand Prize winner of the Clermont Ferrand International short film festival Pride, directed by Pavel G. Vesnakov and produced by Bulgarian Portokal with a presale by ZDF/Arte, is the strongest entrant in the Bulgarian short film competition, comprising 12 new films.
This year the honorary winner of the Lifetime Achievement award is eminent director Georgi Djulgerov, now in post-production of his 15th feature film, the semi biographical Buffer Zone produced by Front Film.
