SOFIA: Bulgaria’s cash rebate for film production has passed its first hurdle. The cash rebate of up to 25%, which is included in amendments to the country’s 2003 Film Industry Act, passed its first of two parliamentary votes on 4 December.

SOFIA: The Bulgarian National Film Center gave 1,987,397 EUR / 3,877,000 BGN to nine films in production and nine films in development at its second session of grants for Bulgarian feature films in December 2020. The production grants go to two films with high budgets, three with lower budgets, one debut and three shorts.

SOFIA: The 25th edition of the national Golden Rhyton festival of animated and documentary films, held online 4-10 December 2020, gave the best documentary film award to Eldora Traykova’s Before the End and the best animated film award to Andrey Koulev’s Santiago. Traykova also took the best documentary director award, and Vladimir Shomov’s Brainstorming brought him the best animated film director award.

SOFIA: The 25th edition of the national film festival for documentaries and animated films Golden Rhyton, initially scheduled as a physical event (27 November - 3 December 2020) in the city of Plovdiv, is taking place online. The sudden decision came shortly after new COVID-19 restrictions were implemented on 27 November, which closed all theatres until 21 December. The festival opened on 4 December and will end on 10 December.

VARNA: Ivailo Hristov’s feature film Fear, produced by Pro Film, won the top award of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020). This is the second Golden Rose for actor/director Ivailo Hristov, whose previous film Losers (Pro Film) grabbed the prestigious national prize in 2015.

VARNA: Ivaylo Penchev’s film Last Call, produced by Urban Media/ Cinemaq, will screen in the main competition of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020).

VARNA: Stanimir Trifonov’s period film The Blessed (Incomes Project) will screen in the main competition of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020). The action takes place in three different eras, covering a period of over a half a century, and recreates moments from a brief 1939 visit of young John F. Kennedy in Bulgaria.

VARNA: Yana Titova’s first feature film A Dose of Happiness, coproduced between No Blink Studio and bTV Studios, will screen in the main competition of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020). The privately financed film became one of Bulgaria’s 2019 domestic box office hits. In May 2020 HBO GO included the title in the list of Bulgarian films available to the Bulgarian audience and to the audiences of seven other Balkan territories.

VARNA: Andrey Andonov’s and Vladimir Borisov’s comedy Yataghan will screen in the main competition of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020). The brothers Christo and Yanaki Dermendjievi, known for their 25 years’ experience in distribution, acted this time as producers through their company A Plus Films.

VARNA: Yavor Petkov’s feature film debut Danny. Legend. God will screen in the main competition of the 38th Golden Rose National Film Festival (24 September - 1 October 2020). It is an independently financed crime thriller inspired by the 1992 cult Belgium black comedy Man Bites Dog, written, produced and directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde.