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Sofia International Film FestivalFor 16th year Sofia International Film Festival will gather together in Sofia films, guests, stars, journalists and cinema fans from 9th until 18th March 2012. Featured in Variety’s Top 50 of cinema festivals, the event presents Bulgaria to the world as the host one of the important film festivals in Europe and takes place annually in March. What started as a thematic music film festival, went through 15 previous editions to become the cinema event of the year, bringing the current world cinema trends to the domestic viewers in Bulgaria and the latest in Bulgarian cinema to the rest of the world. Since 1997 more than 1,600 feature films and documentaries have been screened within the festival’s framework. More than 1,000 distinguished guests have attended, including established professionals such as Wim Wenders, Volker Schlondorff, Katja Riemann and Karl Baumgartner (Germany), Alan Parker, Peter Greenaway, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Tony Palmer and David Mackenzie (United Kingdom), Nikita Mikhalkov, Andrei Konchalovsky, Karen Shakhnazarov and Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov (Russia), Jiri Menzel, Jan Sverak, Jan Hrebejk and Petr Zelenka (Czech Republic), Emir Kusturica (Yugoslavia), Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland), Otar Iosseliani (Georgia), Jean-Claude Carriere, Agnes Varda, Siegfried and Jacques Dorfmann (France), Assumpta Serna (Spain), Bent Hamer and Unni Straume (Norway), Jafar Panahi and Babak Payami (Iran), Jerry Schatzberg, Michael Wadleigh and Lech Kowalski (USA), Jos Stelling (the Netherlands), Mika Kaurismaki (Finland), Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (Iceland), Lone Scherfig (Denmark), Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary), Goran Markovic, Goran Paskaljević, Radivoje Andric, Dusan Milic, Srđan Karanović and Srđan Dragojević (Serbia) and many others.
The festival is organized 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 Film Center and the Bulgarian National Television with the support of the MEDIA programme of the European Commission, national and foreign cultural institutes and sponsors.
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 FIAPF (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. ![]() Sofia International Film Festival 2011
At the 15th Sofia International Film festival (SIFF), ESSENTIAL KILLING (Poland, 2010) screened to an international audience.
In 'Essential Killing' (2010) actor Vincent Gallo plays Mohammed, a Taliban from Afghanistan on the run from American soldiers through the mountains of Poland after slaughtering three American soldiers to bits. While I would not say this film is bad nor good, I would definitely say that it is very worth the time as it is certainly a film not soon to be forgotten. Who would of thought Gallo could pull off such a feat! He is compelling in his role as Taliban on the run and while intimidating, his character also begs sympathy in a weird and twisted way. Despite his fierce bursts of 'essential killing' while on the run and his ravenous hunger, which even drives him to breast feed from a large woman on the roadside, one cannot help but root for this mysterious enemy while feeling disgust for him simultaneously. While my friend and I were the only ones clapping at the end of the film (in a full theater), it is unarguably a riveting, shocking film, action packed and nothing like you have ever seen before...Two thumbs up for Jerzy Skolimowski's film, 'Essential Killing' and Vincent Gallo's gratuitous and stellar
review written by, Vanessa McMahon 21.03.2011 | Sofia International Film Festival's blog Cat. : actor Afghanistan CDATA Cinema of Poland Entertainment Entertainment Essential Killing Essential Killing Films Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski Movie Release Person Career SOFIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Sofia International Film Festival 2011 Taliban Taliban THE 15th SOFIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Vanessa McMahon Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo War in Afghanistan
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+ SUBSCRIBE to the weekly Newsletter DealsUser imagesAbout Sofia International Film Festival![]() International film festival for feature films, documentaries and shorts (mainly Bulgarian). Main themes: International competition for first and second films, Balkan & Bulgarian cinema, Cinema Europe, World screen, retrospectives. View my profile Send me a message My festivalThe EditorUser contributions |