Being the center of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU and European Capital of Sport in 2018 are serious reasons for pride but also challenges for the city of Sofia. In March it will turn into one of the world's capitals of cinema, thanks to the ambitious program of the 22nd International Film Festival /7-18-29 March 2018/. The year has already started successfully for Bulgarian cinema.

"It is exclusive honor for Bulgaria!" - Stefan Kitanov, director of Sofia Film Festival said describingthe breakthrough of this country on the international festival market. For the first time, 29 years after Ivan Nichev'sfilm “Ivan and Alexandra”, in the Berlinale main competition we have a Bulgarian movie. Its director is Milko Lazarov, and scriptwriter is Simeon Ventsislavov. The film titled "Ága" was chosen to close the prestigious festival.

"Ága", with which SFF will be opened on March 7, is an unusual piece of art in its storyline. The action unfolds far north, the main characters being –eskimo family Sedna and Nanuk. After the death of Sedna, Nanuk walks a long way to find their daughter Ága, who left the family years ago. "I have always been excited about how the modern and rapidly developing world affects small communities ... I admire people who live in conditions unbearable to modern man and manage to preserve their delicate relationships and to accept life humbly and compassionately," director Milko Lazarov says.

In 2018 the topic of Sofia Film Festival, creatively intertwines with the choice of Sofia as European Capital of Sport. The emphasis is on mass sport and on the importance of sport as a priority in people's lives. This special focus will also be featured in the festival’s program with a selection of films and sporting events.

The director of the festival Stefan Kitanovhas pointed out another important fact: the 15th edition of the Sofia Meetings - a co-productions platform, which brings artists and their projects together with filmproducers, distributors, journalists. For all these years, Sofia Meetings has provided funding for a number of films - Bulgarian and foreign, which have successfully been presented on both the SFF and the world screens.

“Thanks to Mira Staleva, executive director of SFF and her team, more than 150 representatives of the European film industry will arrive in Sofia again. At the press conference dedicated to Sofia Meetings, our co-productive market, we will give you information about what has been done during these 15 years and make you acquainted with all projects that have passed through the co-production platform and what has happened to them. At Sofia Meetings we also show the latest Bulgarian films in complete and incomplete form, and it is makes clear which Bulgarian films have been shown around the world after their screening on this platform. 98 percent of recent Bulgarian cinema has started from here – the Sofia Meetings.”

World-renowned Hungarian director IlldikoEnyedi will be president of the International Jurythat is to nominate the winner of the Sofia Grand Prix.

Among the films presented in the competition program are co-productions with Bulgarian participation: "3/4" (2017) - Bulgaria - Germany, directed by Ilian Metev; "Radiogram" (2017) - Bulgaria - Poland, directed by Ruzie Hasanova. The Bulgarian director, who grew up in the Rhodopes, defines "Radiogram" as "a film about freedom and the power of music".

Among the contenders for this prize are also:

- "Adam" (2018) - Germany-Iceland-USA-Mexico, directed by Maria Solrun;

- "The Pigeon / Güvercin" (2018) - Turkey, directed by Banu Shivatsi;

- "Namme" / "Namme", 2017) - Georgia, director Zaza Halvashi;

- "Silent Night / Cichanoc" (2017) - Poland, directed by Piotr Domalewski.

In the festival part entitled "Cinema Today - the Great Masters", the audience will be able to see the latest films by established names from the world cinema. The SFF program features titles such as Fatih Akin's "In The Fade", “Loveless” by Andrey Zvyagintsev, as well as the "The Florida Project" - the latest film by Sean Baker.

English: Alexander Markov