The sensitive love triangle drama in whicha single forty-year-old school teacher falls in love with a married hairdresser received also the Best Director and the FIPRESCI awards. The international jury headed by Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky gave its Special Award to Liar's Dice, the directorial debut of the talented Indian actress Geetu Mohandas, produced by Jar Pictures.
Two Turkish films won the main awards in the Balkan films competition. Yozgat Bluesabout the singing and human experiences of a male-female duo in a provincial town, directed by Mahmut Fazil Coskun, coproduced by Turkey’s Hokus Fokus and Germany’s Arden Film was announced as best Balkan film. SaroyanLand about the American writer with Armenian roots William Saroyan, directed by Lusin Dink and produced by Narfilm, took theaward of the Bulgarian guild of film critics. According to film critic Petya Alexandrova, “This is a documentary, a fiction and an experimental film at the same time”.
The award for best Bulgarian Feature film went to Stefan Komandarev’s newest feature The Judgment, coproduced by Argo Film, Neue Mediopolis Filmroduktion, Propeler Film and Sektor Film. The film was also invited to the forthcoming Moscow IFF.
The award for best Bulgarian short film went to Kolio Karamfilov’s poetic Casablanca.Producer Nikolay Nedelchev from Wasabi Film Productions said on stage: “Unfortunately Bulgaria’s talented contemporary artist Karamfilov, who directed Casablanca, passed away last January. Therefore I am donating the 6,000 EUR from the award to his son, a young poet himself.”
The Grand Prize winner of the Clermont Ferrand International short film festival Pride, directed by Pavel G. Vesnakov and produced by Bulgarian Portokal received a Special Mention.
The Best Documentary Film award went to the internationally acclaimed The Act of Killing directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and produced by Final Cut for Real.
With 26 selected projects the 11th edition of the Sofia Meetings, which took place 13-16 March 2014, highlighted projects from Romania, Georgia and Slovakia. The best rated Bulgarian project was Milko Lazarov’s Nanook, produced by Red Carpet Films which the author said would be “an exiting journey to the Eskimos’ identity.”
SIFF presented 212 films from 54 countries and invited 300 international guests.
SIFF awards
Grand Prix for best film in the International Competition for first and second films:
Blind Dates (Georgia) by director Levan Koguashvili, producer Millimetr Film
Special jury award: Liar’s Dice (India) by director Geethu Mohandas, producer Jar Pictures
Best director award: Levan Koguashvili for Blind Dates (Georgia)
Best Bulgarian short film: Casablanca (Bulgaria) by director Kolio Karamfilov , producer Wasabi Film Productions
Special Mention: Pride by Pavel G. Vesnakov, producer Portokal
Best documentary award:The Act of Killing by director Joshua Oppenheimer, producer Final Cut for Real
Special mention: Life almost Wonderful (Bulgaria-Belgium) by director Svetoslav Draganov, producers: Cineaste maudit production and Congoo bvba
Best Balkan film:Yozgat Blues (Turkey-Germany) by director Mahmut Fazil Coskun, producers: Hokus Fokus and Arden Film
Bulgarian guild of film critics award for film from the Balkan Competition: SaroyanLand (France-Turkey-Armenia) by director Lusin Dink, producer Narfilm
Best Bulgarian feature film award:The Judgment (Bulgaria) by director Stephan Komandarev, producers: Argo Film, Neue Mediopolis Filmroduktion, Propeler Film and Sektor Film
FIPRESCI award: Blind Dates (Georgia) by director Levan Koguashvili
Audience award: The Last Black Sea Pirates (Bulgaria) by Svetoslav Stoyanov, producer Agitprop
Young jury award: Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot (Italy-Slovenia) by director Matteo Oleotto, producers Transmedia and Staragara Productions
Sofia Meetings awards
Hungarian filmlab award for best project in the ‘Second Film Projects’:
Never Let It Go by Paul Negoescu, producer Papillion Film, Romania
Synchro Film, Video & Audio (Vienna) award : Special Mention for project in the ‘Second Film Projects’ Programme:
Nanook by Milko Lazarov, producer Red Carpet Films
Focusfox Studio (Hungary) post production award for best project in the ‘Plus Minus One Projects’ Programme:
Cook, F**K, Kill by Mira Fornay, Slovakia, producer by Mirafox
Digimage -LVT Post Production Award for project in the ‘Plus Minus One Projects’ Programme:
Dede by Miriam Khachvani, Georgia, producer 20 Steps Productions
