Geraldine Chaplin and Volker Schlöndorff are among the guests of "Sofia Film Fest" - Entertainment

Geraldine Chaplin will present the film “Luke” directed by Jessica Woodworth

On March 16, the 27th edition of the international festival “Sofia Film Fest” begins. The opening is in Hall 1 of the NDK with the film “Lord of the Forests” by Volker Schlöndorff. He is an Oscar and Palme d’Or winner and will be a special guest during the screening.

This year the festival embraces the green idea and Volker Schlöndorff will plant the first tree in the Sofia Film Fest forest. Five trees will be planted with every ticket purchased for the opening film from “Gorata.bg”.

At the official opening, an award for contribution to the seventh art of the emblematic operator, director and screenwriter Radoslav Spasov will be presented. This year he will celebrate his 80th anniversary.

Volker Schlöndorff will be a special guest during the screening of “The Lord of the Forest”

The official guests

In addition to Volker Schlöndorff, the legendary actress Geraldine Chaplin will be a special guest at the festival. On March 25, in Hall 1 of the NDK, she will present the film “Luke” directed by Jessica Woodworth. The daughter of Charlie Chaplin and Una O’Neill will also be honored with the Sofia Award for overall contribution to world cinema. Other honorees include Terry Gilliam, Bella Tarr and Claudia Cardinale.

The winner of the “Oscar” for foreign language film Jan Sverak will personally present his latest film “Star of Bethlehem” on March 18 at the House of Cinema. His visit will be preceded by a retrospective of his work, which will last until March 17 at the Czech Center in Sofia.

The premier titles

At this year’s edition of the “Sofia Film Fest”, some of the films that were nominated for the “Oscar” will be presented. Among them are “Tar” with Cate Blanchett, “The Idiot Triangle” by Ruben Östlund, “Argentina, 1985” by Santiago Mitre, “All Beauty and Bloodshed” by Laura Poitras. Among the premiere Bulgarian titles of the festival are “The Good Driver” by Tonislav Hristov and “The Art of Falling” by Orlin Milchev.

Competition programs

The chairman of the jury this year is the world-famous director Milcho Manchevski, winner of the “Golden Lion” and nominated for the “Oscar”. The competition program includes 12 films, including “Endless” by Nader Seivar, “The Other Widow” by Mayan Rip and “The Red Shoes” by Carlos Eichelman Kaiser.

The Balkan competition also includes 12 titles, but only from the region. Among them are “Mother” by Zornitsa Sofia, “Safe place” by Juraj Lerotich and “Burning Days” by Emin Alper.

The short films selected by Elitsa Petkova, Rosen Spasov and Orlin Menkadzhiev are also 12. Some of the titles are “Woodcutter” by Christian Bozov, “Maybe Nothing” by Svetoslav Draganov and August 13th by Vencislav Sariev.