From May 1 to 13, viewers in the capital will once again have the opportunity to see a comprehensive selection of the latest Bulgarian cinema for free, reports the SBFD. And this year, the screening of all nominated films will precede the “Vasil Gendov” awards, which will be handed out on May 16 at the “Ivan Vazov” National Theater.
The screenings will last two weeks at the Cinema House and include a total of 90 titles. A program of documentaries, short and feature films is scheduled for each day. Viewers will be able to see “Lessons of Goodness”, “Dyad”, “Trust Game”, “Plague”, “Because I Love Bad Weather”, “Chalga”, “Notes on a Betrayal”, as well as the documentary “The Followed Man” , “A Provincial Hospital”, “Vakloosh”, “Flying with Fins”, “Soldier of Destiny” and others.
After the screenings, there will be meetings and conversations with some of the actors and crew of each film. You can see the full program here.
For the third year in a row, Bulgarian cinema has formalized its (somewhat controversial) achievements with the “Vasil Gendov” awards, awarded by the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers. They were actually created back in 1975, but in the past five decades they have been awarded intermittently, and in recent times they have also been awarded under the name of awards of the Bulgarian Film Academy. In 2022, they were renamed in honor of the pioneer of our national cinema, accompanied for the first time by a ten-day program with free screenings of the nominees for the public, and crowned with a ceremony in the National Theater.
And this year, in the nominations announced at the beginning of April, along with the good examples, there are quite a few compromise titles. The nominees for the best Bulgarian feature film are “Apostle: A Gentle Knight in Brutalia” – director Petar Rusev, “The Picasso Affair” – director Yan Yanev, “Bo nan za” – director Andrey Getov, “Diada” – director Yana Titova, “Notes on a Betrayal” – dir. Georgi Dyulgerov, “Because I Love Bad Weather” – dir. Yana Lekarska, “Trust Game” – dir. Martin Makariev, “Trap” – dir. Nadezhda Koseva beauty” – directed by Nikolay Bogomilov, “Lessons of Goodness” – directed by Stefan Komandarev, “Chalga” – directed by Marian Valev and “The Plague” – directed by Ivan Vladimirov. The 12 feature films produced last year are competing for statuettes in as many as 14 categories. Expected with the most nominations – 10, is the winner of the “Crystal Globe” from Karlovy Vary and other international “Lessons of Good” awards.
Georgi Dyulgerov, Ivan Vladimirov, Nadezhda Koseva, Stefan Komandarev and Yana Titova are nominated for best director. The “Vasil Gendov” prize for the best actor is disputed by Alexander Trifonov (“Trap”), Vladimir Mihailov (“Because I love bad weather”), Georgi Gotsin (“Apostle: A Gentle Knight in Brutalia”), Ivan Nikolov (“Notes one betrayal each”) and Svezhen Mladenov (“Plague”). Among the ladies, the nominees are Eli Skorcheva for “The Lessons of Goodness”, Eleonora Ivanova for “Chalga”, Margarita Stoykova for “Diada”, Neda Spasova for “Because I love bad weather” and Tsvetelina Stoyanova for “Chalga”.
The Dramatists Guild has nominated three for the best screenplay of a feature film: Simeon Ventsislavov for “The Lessons of Goodness”, Yana Titova for “Diada” and Yana Lekarska for “Because I Love Bad Weather”.
Over 40 (!) titles are competing for the best documentary this year, and you can find the full list of nominations in all over thirty categories of the “Vasil Gendov” awards here.
