The second edition of the showcase of documentary films devoted to the arts took place in Sofia on 20 - 30 April 2017 in four screening halls: the renovated Lumiere Lidl hall at the National Palace of Culture, the Odeon cinema, the Euro Cinema and the Cultural Centre G 8.
A total of 60 films from over 30 countries, produced after 1 January 2015, competed in the programmes Architecture and Design, Music and Dance, Theatre and Cinema, Literature, Fine Art and Photography, Video Art and Advertising and Contemporary Art, Installation Art, and Protest Art. A new Art Video Games section was added this year and the video game chain Pulsar Games got involved in the festival. The Bulgarian National Television created the BNT award, consisting in acquiring the broadcast rights for the awarded film.
“This year the number of the films doubled, along with the number of the screening halls and the admissions. We also had nine Bulgarian films, among them two prestigious titles coproduced by Bulgarian National Television: Lubomir Pechev’s A Bridge to Christo dedicated to the Bulgarian artist Hristo Yavashev, more famous under the name of Christo, and Iskra Angelova’s and Milena Getova’s Who’s afraid of Julia Kristeva with the participation of the worldwide known Bulgarian philosopher, psychoanalyst and linguist based in Paris,” festival founder and artistic director Titzin told FNE.
The festival was organised by Spotlight and the Master of Art Foundation. It was supported by the Sofia Municipality, the Bulgarian National Film Center, the National Palace of Culture and the America for Bulgaria Foundation.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS:
Master of Art Best Documentary Film
I Go Back Home – Jimmy Scott (Germany, South Korea, USA)
Directed by Yoon-Ha Chang
Produced by Kemper Music Production
Best Documentary Films by Categories
Architecture and Design
Sebastian Errazuriz: Monologues In the Artist’s Studio (USA)
Directed by Palu Abadia
Produced by Palu Abadia
Music and Dance
Presenting Princess Shaw (Israel)
Directed by Ido Haar
Produced by YesDocu, coproduced by France 4 Television, CBC Canada, SVT, VPRO
Theatre and Cinema
S Is for Stanley (Italy)
Directed by Alex Infascelli
Produced by Kinethica
Literature
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt (Israel, Canada)
Directed by Ada Ushpiz
Produced by Intuitive Picture, AUFilms
Fine Art and Photography
David Lynch the Art Life (USA)
Directed by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barns
Produced by A Janus Films, Soda Pictures
Video Art and Advertising
A Love Story (UK)
Directed by Anushka Nanayakkara
Produced by Khaled Gad
Contemporary Art, Installation Art, Protest Art
Paris Tower 13 (France)
Directed by Thomas Lallier
Produced by Matthieu Buchsenschutz, Lester Bernard
Best Bulgarian Film
The Way to Thebes
Directed by Nikolay Vasilev
Produced by Bulgarian National Television
Best Short Film
Ellis (USA)
Directed by JR
Produced by JR, Jane Rosenthal
Bulgarian National Television Award
The Music of Strangers: Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (USA)
Directed by Morgan Neville
Produced by Silkroad, Participant Media, The Orchard, HBO
Most Beautiful Documentary Award
I, Claude Monet (UK)
Directed by Phil Grabsky
Produced by Seventh Art Productions
Audience Award
88MHZ (Bulgaria)
Directed by Yana Titova
Produced by Alexander Alexiev
Special Jury Mention
Ayham Ahmad - The Pianist of Yarmouk (Germany)
Directed by Gunter Atteln, Carmen Belaschk
Produced by Accentus Music, ZDF
