The festival presented a total of 210 films from 58 countries from all over the world with 269 international guests coming to Sofia in 2016, amongst them were directors, producers, festival directors as well as media and film experts. A highlight of the event was a retrospective of the films by Terry Gilliam and the director was much in evidence attending events during the festival as well as the closing ceremony.
At the Sofia Meetings a new prize was implemented with Sofia based Nu Boyana Studios handing out an award of 50 000 EUR in services and 5000 EUR in cash for the best project in the pitching event which went to the project Daisi (Georgia), presented by the director Dea Kulumbegashvili and the producers Rati Oneli and Jim Stark.
Sofia International Film Festival Award Winners:
International Competition for First and Second Feature Films:
Sofia City Grand Prix
Zhaleika (Germany)
Directed by Eliza Petkova
Lidl Audience Award
My Father, My Mother, My Sister (Bulgaria)
Directed by Dimitar Kotsev-Shosho
Produced by Spotlight
Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Centre
Special Jury Award
The Summer of Frozen Fountains (Georgia, Russia)
Directed by Vano Burduli
Produced by Producing Center Gemini
Supported by Georgian National Film Centre
Best Director
Tomas Weinreb and Petr Kazda for their film I, Olga Hepnarova (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia)
Produced by Media Brigade (CZ) in coproduction with Alef Film & Media Group (SK), Arizona Productions (FR) and Czech production companies Black Balance, Love.FRAME, Barrandov Studios, FAMU and Michael Samuelson Lightning Prague
Supported by Polish Film Institute, Lower Silesia Film Fund , The State Cinematography Fund – Czech Republic and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund
Sales: Arizona Productions
Special Mention
Angela Nedyalkova for her role in The Paradise Suite (Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria)
Produced by PRPR
Coproduced by GötaFilm (SE), Film Väst (SE), KaBoAl Pictures (BG)
Jameson Award for Best Bulgarian Short Film
Red Light (Bulgaria)
Directed by Toma Vasharov
Best Documentary
Mr.Gaga (Israel, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands)
Directed by Tomer Heymann.
Special Mention Documentary
Cambridge (Bulgaria)
Directed by Eldora Traykova
The Ground We Won (New Zealand)
Directed by Cristopher Pryor
Domaine Boyar Award for Best Balkan Film
Frenzy (Turkey, France, Qatar)
Directed by Emin Alper
Special Mention Balkan Film
Nausea (Turkey)
Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz.
Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics Award Balkan Film
Losers (Bulgaria)
Directed by Ivaylo Hristov
Produced by Moviemento
Coproduced by Profilm, Transformers
Best Bulgarian Feature Film
Thirst (Bulgaria)
Directed by Svetla Tsotsorkova
Produced by Front Film
Supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center
FIPRESCI Award
Rauf (Turkey)
Directed by Soner Caner and Baris Kaya
Young Jury Award
The Lure (Poland)
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Produced by WFDiF
Coproduced by HBO Poland, Telewizja Polska
Supported by the Polish Film Institute
Sofia Municipality for contribution to world cinema
Terry Gilliam
Bela Tarr
Ted Kotcheff
Georgi Stoev, Georgi Petkov, Christo Iliev (Bulgaria)
Sofia Meetings Awards:
Nu Boyana Film Studios Award for best project in the pitching section
Daisi (Georgia) presented by the director Dea Kulumbegashvili and the producers Rati Oneli and Jim Stark.
Focusfox Studio (Hungary) Award of 10 000 Euro in post production services
The Fugue (Poland), presented by the director Agnieszka Smoczyńska and the producer Agnieszka Kurzydło.
Hungarian Filmlab Award of 10 000 Euro in post production services
Sister (Bulgaria), presented by the director and producer Svetla Tsotsorkova, the producer Nadejda Koseva and the writer Svetoslav Ovcharov.
EastWest Filmdistribution Award
Raging Sea (Bulgaria) by the director and producer Zlatin Radev.
Young Producer Award of Yapimlab (Turkey)
Closed to the Public (Croatia), presented by the director and writer Vanja Sviličić and the producer Rea Rajcic.
