SIFF 2008 also opened in the NDK with a rousing tribute to Rangel
Vulchanov, the 80-year-old Bulgarian master, whose latest feature
film, A dnes nakade (Which Way Today?) (2007), was shown back-to-back
with his earlier A sega nakade? (Which Way Now?) (1988). By employing
a time-honored stage formula for a collective actors' exam for
entrance to an academy (along the lines of the hit musical Chorus
Line), the original candidates back in 1988 were asked (among other
things) to weigh their moral principles against the capitalist demands
of a free economic market in post-communist society. Then, in the 2007
sequel, Vulchanov assembles the same personalities once again to see
if they had held to previously professed principles and how they view
their lives today. Although this amusing game of role-playing can
hardly be equated with documentary realism, still the collective pain
of adjusting to democratic choice and a free-wheeling economy had
obviously taken its toll in the lost ideals of some of the
participants. In Which Way Now? Vulchanov deftly pairs previous
statements from Which Way Today? with current opinions by the same
individuals to underscore how life itself is often the great leveler
of pretence and hubris.

Two previously awarded Bulgarian documentaries by young filmmaking
talent were also spotlighted at SIFF 2008, both exemplary of typical
absurd humor found in real-life rural situations, a distinct national
trait in Bulgarian cinema. In Andrei Paounov's Problemat s komarite i
drugi istorii (The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories), awarded at
last year's Karlovy Vary festival, oversized mosquitos (nicknamed
"zanzar" for their nerve-racking buzz) torment the population in the
town of Belene on the Danube so much that smoke-blowing extermination
trucks regularly fumigate the streets on humid summer days. Among the
colorful characters in the film is a friendly Cuban worker, who was
stranded here in socialist times when plans for a nuclear plant were
launched and then abandoned. Others are an Italian priest caring for a
small flock of elderly parishioners, a piano tuner confessing his love
for both Chopin and boogie-woogie; a dance instructor helping the
populace to break the daily monotony, and a double-talking town mayor
who had formerly supervised a nearby forced labor camp under communist
rule.

Similarly, in Boris Despodov's Corridor #8, a rib-tickling,
tongue-in-cheek documentary awarded at this year's Berlinale, the
focus is on the stumbling efforts of the European Union to construct
an asphalt highway on the traces of the ancient Via Egnatia, a long
forgotten road dating from Roman times that had once effectively
linked the Black Sea with the Adriatic. Today, the EU plans for a
modern highway corridor – running through Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia,
and Albania – come across as an absurdly funny international proposal
despite cogent arguments for a quicker traffic route and better
cross-country communication. But when local citizens in the respective
countries are asked what they think of "Corridor #8" (as the road is
noted in EU protocol), most can't figure out where the new highway is
going and why it is even considered necessary in the first place!
As both Bulgarian film producer and Sofia festival director, Stefan
Kitanov promotes New Bulgarian Cinema with the flair and confidence of
a public relations professional. Visiting critics and festival
representatives were informed that at the forthcoming Sixth
NY-Bulgarian Film Festival of Bulgarian Films, scheduled April 4-19 in
the Scandinavian House in Manhattan, the public could see 15 films
(features, documentaries, shorts, animation) in an all-embracing
national program. Further, the New York event would open with Ludmil
Todorov's Shivachki (Seamstresses), awarded the FIPRESCI International
Critics Prize at SIFF 2008. In this melodrama three naive young
village girls, all seamstresses and the best of friends, seek their
fortune in Sofia, only to be hardened by the compromises they are
forced to make along the way. Another new Bulgarian feature film of
both literary and historical interest was Kostadin Bonev's Voinen
Korespondent (War Correspondent), based on the dispatches filed by
eminent journalist-writer Yordan Yovkov from the front in 1917 during
the First World War. Yovkov's description of cholera among dying
soldiers parallels similar dispatches filed by the American war
correspondent John Reed in his seminal book War in Eastern Europe:
Travels Through the Balkans in 1915 (published in 1916).

Galas and Awards

As in the past, the Sofia public was offered a fill of top
international productions among the 200-odd screenings in six venues
scattered across the city. Further, the SIFF went on the road
afterwards with additional screenings in the cities of Plovdiv and
Burgas. Among the Galas and Avant-Premieres were such box office draws
as Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (USA), Nikita
Mikhalkov's 12 (Russia), Todd Haynes's I'm Not There (USA) on Bob
Dylan, Milos Forman's Goya's Ghost (Spain/USA) and Volker
Schloendorff's Ulzhan (France/Germany/Kazakhstan), both of the last
named films scripted by Jean–Claude Carrière. Present to receive their
Sofia Municipality Awards for Contribution to World Cinema were Nikita
Mikhalkov and Jean–Claude Carrière.

Many films in the SIFF sidebars were programmed specifically for the
committed festival cineaste. Among the top directorial names in the
European Screen section were Poland's Andrzej Wajda (Katyn), Hungary's
Bela Tarr (The Man from London), and Austria's Ulrich Seidl (Import
Export). This year's double decker Focus section spotlighted Russia
and the Netherlands. Audience attractions in the Focus on Russia
included Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra and Sergei Bodrov's Mongol. And
in the Focus on the Netherlands Jos Stelling was honored with a
retrospective tribute, in addition to serving as president of the
international jury. Crowds gathered early for his Duska, a black
comedy about a film festival conman that was shot partially in the
Ukraine.

In the Main Program (12 films in competition) the audience was
treated to award winners from key international festivals. From the
Cannes Competition came Fatih Akin's Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge
of Heaven) (Germany), along with Lucia Puenza's XXY
(Argentina/Spain/France) seen in the International Week of the
Critics. From the New Directors section at San Sebastian arrived
Threes Anna's Vogel kan niet vliegen (The Bird Can't Fly)
(Netherlands/South Africa/UK). From the Panorama section in the
Berlinale was booked Anna Melikian's Rusalka (Mermaid) (Russia) and
Stefan Arsenijevic's Ljubav i drugi zlo (Love And Other Crimes)
(Serbia/Germany/Austria/Slovenia). And from the Cottbus Festival of
Central and Eastern European Films came Marc Meyer's Wir sagen Du!
Schatz (Family Rules!), starring Bulgarian émigré actor Samuel Fintzi,
son of popular veteran Bulgarian actor Yitzhak Fintzi.

Anna Melikian's Mermaid, cited for the FIPRESCI International Critics
Prize at the Berlinale, was awarded the Grand Prix for Best Feature
Film at Sofia. The fairy tale story of a girl who arrives in Moscow
from nowhere in particular to have an impact for better or worse on
those she comes into contact with, Mermaid is sprinkled with humorous
characters and absurd twists. Set in South Africa, The Bird Can't Fly
(the title refers to ostriches on a breeding farm) marked prominent
Dutch theater director Threes Anna's debut as a filmmaker. An
allegorical tale with poetic touches, the focus is on a woman who
returns to the Fairlands for the burial of her estranged daughter,
only to discover that she has to contend with a 10-year-old grandson,
whom she knew nothing about, and a secret she's been hiding for years.
The Bird Can't Fly received the runner Special Jury Prize. The
festival's Best Director Award went to another feature film debut:
Stefan Arsenijevic's Love And Other Crimes), a
Serbian-German-Austrian-Slovenian coproduction. Set in Belgrade on a
wintery day against a dreary backdrop of concrete housing blocks, Love
and Other Crimes comes across as a moving human drama between a young
man and a young woman, both subservient to the same crime boss. Their
day-long quest to know each other better leads to a questioning search
as to how best to start their lives anew. Stefan Arsenijevic is yet
another Serbian directorial talent to keep an eye on.

Sofia Awards

International Competition
Grand Prix, Best Film
Rusalka (Mermaid) (Russia), dir Anna Melikyan
Special Jury Award
Vogel kan niet vliegen (The Bird Can't Fly) (Netherlands/South
Africa/UK), dir Threes Anna
Best Director, Cadillac Award
Stefan Arsenijevic, Ljubav i drugi zlo (Love And Other Crimes),
(Serbia/Germany/Austria/Slovenia)

Best Bulgarian Short Film, Jameson Award
Semenia terapya (Family Therapy), dir Petar Vulchanov
Best Balkan Film, No Man's Land Award
4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)
(Romania), dir Cristian Mungiu
Best Bulgarian Feature Film, Kodak Award
Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakad (The World Is Big and
Salvation Lurks Around the Corner)
(Bulgaria/Germany/Slovenia/Hungary), dir Stefan Komandarev

FIPRESCI (International Critics) Award
Shivachki (Seamstresses) (Bulgaria), dir Ludmil Todorov
Bitter Cup Award, Journalism and Mass Communication Faculty, St.
Kliment Okhridsky Sofia University
P.V.C.-1 (Colombia/Greece/USA), dir Spiros Stathoulopoulus
Audience Award
Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakad (The World Is Big and
Salvation Lurks Around the Corner)
(Bulgaria/Germany/Slovenia/Hungary), dir Stefan Komandarev
Sofia Municipality Award for Contribution to World Cinema
Jean–Claude Carrière (France), screenwriter/director
Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia), director/producer
Vladislav Ikonomov (Bulgaria), director
Milcho Leviev (Bulgaria), composer
Miki Manojlovic (Serbia), actor