The Balkan Competition programme will screen Croatian film The Voice, by director Ognjen Sviličić, and Croatian minority co-productions Father, directed by Srdan Golubović (Croatian producers Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić, Propeler Film) and Stitches, directed by Miroslav Terzić (Croatian co-producer Zdenka Gold, Spiritus Movens), as well as Teona Strugar Mitevska’s God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija (once again with Zdenka Gold of Spiritus Movens as the Croatian co-producer).

This year’s Sofia IFF was originally scheduled for March, however, it was postponed due to the Coronavirus crisis. The organizers have decided to split the festival into two instalments – the summer and autumn edition. The summer edition, featuring films in competition programmes (the Balkan Competition, International Competition, Documentary Competition, Bulgarian Short Film Competition), is held online and at open air-venues, as well as the Cinema House film theatre in Sofia.

Croatian minority co-production The Barefoot Emperor, directed by duo Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens (with Croatian co-producers Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić of Propeler Film), is on the programme on 6th July, screening after the festival awards ceremony.  

In its summer edition, Sofia IFF will screen 88 films, accessible via the festival’s digital platform for 24 days (until 19th July), available exclusively to viewers based in Bulgaria. 

The autumn instalment of Sofia IFF will be held in September and October and will include films in national competition programmes, as well as other titles that were not screened in the summer instalment. Visit the Sofia International Film Festival website for more details.

In addition, the industry segment of the festival features the 17th Sofia Meetings co-production market, which will include the presentation Darko Lungulov’s latest feature film project, 1970, developed by Serbian production company Papa Films and co-produced by Propeler Film from Croatia. The project was already presented at the co-production fair of the Cannes Film Festival’s Maché du Film, held online 22nd – 26th June. 

Additionally, Sofia Meetings will host the fourth training module (pitching & project packaging) of Goethe Institut’s First Films First training programme, with two Croatian feature films participating in the programme – Pula, directed by Andrej Korovljev and written by Ivan Turković Krnjak, with Dijana Mlađenović as producer, and Leave the Door Open, directed by Judita Gamulin and produced by Rea Rajčić.           

Cover photographs: Sofia International Film Festival visuals, scenes from The Voice, Father, Stitches, God Exists, Her Name Is Pertunija, The Barefoot Emperor