Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF) (

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

: ''Международен София Филм Фест, София Филм Фест''), also known as Sofia Film Fest, is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, capital city of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, taking place in March each year. It was established in 1997 and is the only film festival in Bulgaria recognised by

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

History

The festival was established in 1997, as a thematic music film festival. Since 2003, the festival has included an International Competition and has been included in the FIPRESCI calendar, and a regional and national competition for short films was introduced in the same year (the Jameson Short Film Award). In 2009 an international

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

competition was added. In 2010, SIFF was accredited by

FIAPF The FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films; en, International Federation of Film Producers Associations), created in 1933, is an organization composed with 36 member associations from 30 of the leading audio ...

as a competitive specialised feature film festival, becoming the only Bulgarian film festival to gain such recognition. It is also the only Bulgarian film festival recognised by FIPRESCI. For its 10th anniversary as an international cinema event in the year 2010 named Year of Bulgarian Cinema, Sofia International Film Festival received as present the recognition from

(International Federation of Film Producers Associations) - it was accredited as competitive festival specialized in first and second films. Since its creation the director of the festival has been Stefan Kitanov. The 2020 edition of the festival was postponed from its initial March dates and split into two parts, rolled out in June and September, because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Subsequently, the 2021 edition of the festival, which is also the 25th anniversary edition, will be held both online and offline in a hybrid format.

Description

Featured in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'''s Top 50

s in 2007, the event presents Bulgaria to the world as the host one of the important film festivals in Europe and takes place annually in March. It brings contemporary world cinema to the domestic audience in Bulgaria and the latest in Bulgarian cinema to the rest of the world. The festival is organised by Art Fest under the auspices of the Municipality of Sofia and in partnership with the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, the

National Palace of Culture The National Palace of Culture (, ; abbreviated as , NDK), located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the largest, multifunctional conference and exhibition centre in south-eastern Europe. It was opened in 1981 in celebration of Bulgaria's 130 ...

, the

Bulgarian National Film Center Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

and

Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgaria ...

with the support of the Creative Europe Media, the LUX Film Prize and other corporate and institutional sponsors.

Past attendees

Some of the filmmakers and other professionals who have attended the festival include

Zlatko Topčić Zlatko Topčić (born 30 April 1955) is a Bosnian screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He has written a number of films, including: ''Remake'', '' The Abandoned'', ''Miracle in Bosnia''; theater plays: ''Time Out'', '' I Don't Like Mondays'', ' ...

(

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

Volker Schlöndorff Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s, ...

Katja Riemann Katja Hannchen Leni Riemann (, born 1 November 1963) is a German actress. The daughter of two teachers, Riemann grew up in Weyhe, near Bremen. After high school she went to Hamburg to study music and theater. She is the mother of actress Pau ...

and

Karl Baumgartner Karl Baumgartner (1949 – 18 March 2014) was a German film producer. He worked on more than 70 films between 1991 and 2014. Selected filmography * '' Life on a String'' (1991) * '' Underground'' (1995) * ''Dance of the Wind'' (1997) * ''Bl ...

(Germany),

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

Tony Palmer Tony Palmer (born 29 August 1941)IMDb: Tony Palmer
Retrieved 24 September 2011 is a British film direc ...

and David Mackenzie (United Kingdom),

Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (russian: Никита Сергеевич Михалков; born 21 October 1945) is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the ...

Andrei Konchalovsky Andrei Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (russian: link=no, Андрей Сергеевич Михалков-Кончаловский; born 20 August 1937) is a Russian filmmaker. He has worked in Soviet, Hollywood, and contemporary Russian ...

Karen Shakhnazarov Karen Georgievich Shakhnazarov, PAR (russian: Каре́н Гео́ргиевич Шахназа́ров; born 8 July 1952) is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He became the Director General of Mosfilm studios in 1998. ...

and

Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov (Russian/ tg, Бахтиёр Худойназаров, fa, بختیار خدای‌نظرف) (May 29, 1965 – April 21, 2015) was a film director, producer and screenwriter from Tajikistan. His most internationally famou ...

(Russia),

Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...

Jan Svěrák Jan Svěrák () (born 6 February 1965 in Žatec) is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the FAMU. He and his films have received awards including the Academy Award, ...

Jan Hřebejk Jan Hřebejk (; born 27 June 1967) is a Czechs, Czech film director and actor. Life and career Born in Prague, Hřebejk graduated from high school in 1987 and continued his studies at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in ...

and Petr Zelenka (Czech Republic),

Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...

(Yugoslavia),

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He is ...

(Poland),

Otar Iosseliani Otar Iosseliani ( ka, ოთარ იოსელიანი, born 2 February 1934) is a Georgian-born film director. He was born in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi, where he studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and graduated in 1952 ...

(Georgia),

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

and

Jacques Dorfmann Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

(France),

Assumpta Serna María Asunción Rodés Serna (born 16 September 1957), better known as Assumpta Serna, is a Spanish actress and author. Born in Barcelona, Serna has performed in 20 countries in six languages and is the recipient of more than 20 international ...

(Spain),

Bent Hamer Bent Hamer (born 18 December 1956) is a film director, writer and producer, born in Sandefjord, Norway in 1956. Biography Hamer studied film theory and literature at the University of Stockholm and the Stockholm Film School. In addition to his f ...

and

Unni Straume Unni Straume (born 2 October 1955) is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. Her film '' Drømspel'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Filmography Director * '' Kystkunst'' (1977) * '' Trubad ...

(Norway),

Jafar Panahi Jafar Panâhi ( fa, جعفر پناهی, ; born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an ass ...

and

Babak Payami Babak Payami ( fa, بابک پیامی , born 1966) is an Iranian-Canadian film director, writer and producer. Biography Born in Tehran, Iran, Payami grew up in Afghanistan and Iran before leaving for Europe and subsequently Canada, where he ...

(Iran),

Jerry Schatzberg Jerry Schatzberg (born June 26, 1927) is an American photographer and film director. Career Schatzberg was born to a Jewish family of furriers and grew up in the Bronx. He photographed for magazines such as ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', ''Esquire ...

Michael Wadleigh Michael Wadleigh, (born September 24, 1942, in Akron, Ohio), is an American film director and cinematographer renowned for his groundbreaking documentary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, ''Woodstock''. Biography A native of Akron, Ohio, Wadleig ...

and

Lech Kowalski Lech Kowalski (born 1951) is an American film director of Polish descent. He was born in London to Polish parents. His most notable film is the documentary, ''D.O.A.'', subtitled ''A Rite of Passage'', which chronicled the burgeoning UK punk sce ...

(USA),

Jos Stelling Jos Stelling (born 16 July 1945) is a Dutch film director and screenwriter. Career He made his debut as a film director in 1974 with ''Mariken van Nieumegen'', which was selected for the official Cannes competition in 1975. In 1981 he founded t ...

(the Netherlands),

Mika Kaurismäki Mika Juhani Kaurismäki (; born 21 September 1955) is a Finnish film director. Biography Mika Kaurismäki is the elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki, and the father of Maria Kaurismäki, who graduated from Tampere School of Art and Media in 200 ...

(Finland), the director of ''499'', Rodrigo Reyes (Mexico),

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (born 12 May 1954; pronounced ), sometimes credited as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic film director and producer. Biography Fridriksson started his film making career with experimental films and documenta ...

(Iceland),

Lone Scherfig Lone Scherfig (; born 2 May 1959) is a Denmark, Danish film director and screenwriter who has been involved with the Dogme 95 film movement and who has been widely critically acclaimed for several of her movies, including the Oscar-nominated film ...

(Denmark),

Kornél Mundruczó Kornél Mundruczó (; born 3 April 1975) is a Hungarian film and theatre director. He has directed 18 short and feature films between 1998 and 2020. His film ''Johanna'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2005 Cannes Film Fest ...

(Hungary), Goran Markovic,

Goran Paskaljević Goran Paskaljević ( sr-cyr, Горан Паскаљевић; ; 22 April 1947 – 25 September 2020) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav film director. Biography Born in Belgrade, he was raised by his grandparents in Niš in southern Serbia, foll ...

, Radivoje Andric, Dusan Milic,

Srđan Karanović Srđan Karanović ( sr-Cyrl, Срђан Карановић, , born 17 November 1945) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 17 films since 1968. His film ''Miris poljskog cveća'' won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1978 Cannes F ...

and

Srđan Dragojević Srđan Dragojević ( sr-cyr, Срђан Драгојевић, , born 1 January 1963) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, who emerged in the 1990s as a significant figure in Serbian cinema. From 2010 until 2017, he was affiliated with the ...

(Serbia) and many others.

References

External links

* {{official, https://siff.bg/ Film festivals in Bulgaria Annual events in Sofia Cinema of Sofia Film festivals established in 1997