FNE in Sofia: Sofia IFF brings industry and art together

16-03-2009

FNE in Sofia: Sofia IFF brings industry and art together

By Anna Franklin

The 13^th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival, 5-15 March, attracted local crowds as well as European industry professionals of both feature and documentary films from all over Europe with an emphasis on the Balkans.

In addition of a well selected programme of films both in and out of competition highlights included the Sofia Meeitngs and Sunny Side of the Doc where producers and directors came together to pitch projects and find co-producers.

As part of the Sofia Meetings pitching sessions Romanian director Radu Jude won a prize of 5000 Euros from Nu Boyana Studios (http://www.nuboyana.com/) for his project Everybody in Our Family (Hi Film Productions-Bucharest- http://www.hifilm.ro/) and Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev won 5000 Euros in services from Syncro Lab (in Vienna for his pitch for The Judgement (Agro Film- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). By the end of the Sofia Meetings Komandarev had already secured Simone Baumann of Le Vision as a coproducer on the project and organizer Mira Staleva said that many more potential coproduction deals looked likely to result from the pitching sessions.

Winners of the Sofia International Film Festival

Best Feature Film: For My Father

Director Dror Zahavi

Producers: Praxis Productions (http://www.praxixfilms.co.il/) Israel/ Relevant Film (www.relevantfilm.de)Germany

Special Jury Prize:Zift

Director Javor Gurdev

Producer Miramar Film (http://www.miramarfilm.com/) Bulgaria

Best Director: Ozcan Alper for Autumn

Producer: Kuzey Film Production (http://www.kuzeyproduction.com.tr/) Turkey / Filmfabrik (http://www.filmfabrik.com/) Germany

Best Bulgarian Short Film: Three Sisters and Ahdrey

Directors: Andrey Paunov and Boris Despodov

Best Balkan Film: My Marlon and Brando

Director Hueseyin Karabey