Awards of 5th Sofia DocuMENTAL

10-10-2024

Awards of 5th Sofia DocuMENTAL

By Katerina Lambrinova

credit: Sofia DocuMENTAL

SOFIA: Czech director Klára Tasovská won the Best Female Director Award for her film I'm Not Everything I Want to Be at the 5th Sofia DocuMENTAL, held 29 September - 6 October 2024 in Sofia. Sofia DocuMental is an international festival for artistic documentary cinema with a focus on human rights and pressing social issues.

For the third consecutive year, the festival had an industry platform called Balkan Documentary Market. The highlights were the two pitching forums of the programmes BDC Discoveries and Balkan Watchers, dedicated to investigative documentary films and podcasts.

BDC Discoveries is focused on documentary projects in development that have international potential and a cross-media approach. It targets filmmakers from the Balkan region or projects that are thematically connected to the Balkans.

Balkan Watchers provides financial support to projects for films and podcasts following an intensive training programme consisting of three modules. The programme featured 10 films and 10 podcasts, and after a public pitching session in Sofia, three films received financial support of 25,000 EUR, while three podcasts received 5,000 EUR each.

The festival is organised by the Balkan Documentary Center with the support of the Bulgarian National Film Center, Sofia Municipality, German Films, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Czech Centre Sofia,Czech Еmbassy in Bulgaria, Greece Embassy in Bulgaria, Ambassade de France en Bulgarie, Institute Français Sofia, Polish Institute in Sofia, Institute Cervantes Sofia, Institute Liste, Ukrainian Embassy in Bulgaria, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bulgaria, National Geographic, and Bulgarian Fund for Women.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Competition Programme:

Best Female Director Award:
I'm Not Everything I Want to Be (Czech Republic)
Directed by Klára Tasovská
Produced by Somatic Films