18th Sofia International Film Festival

The 18th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF) took place from 6-16 March, with the second half running to 30 March. The festival takes place in the Bulgarian capital, covered for this occasion in snowflakes; but, as is well known, snow is magical even in late winter and early spring. The festival also held some screenings in Varna, Plovdiv and Burgas.

Besides Sarajevo Film Festival, SIFF is perhaps one of the most important festivals of Balkan film. It is also an important festival of first and second features, along with festivals such asInternational Film Festival Bratislava, Chicago International Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival or Zagreb Film Festival.

The director of Sofia International Film Festival is Stefan Kitanov. In his opening speech he said that this year the festival “makes a brave step in maturity”, although FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations) stamped its coming of age when the Festival was just 14 years old. With a FIAPF license in hand,the actual coming of age at 18 years was celebrated with 18+ screening of the already famous Nymphomaniac Vol.1 and Vol.2 by Lars von Trier.

The 18th edition screened almost 160 feature films and documentary titles, as well as over 70 short films. There were several competitions: international, Balkan, documentary… In the international competition there were 12 films; the Balkan competition presented 9 films; and thedocumentary competition comprised 12 films. (Dragan Jurak)

Sofia International Film Festival: www.siff.bg