20/10/2014 - 21 Bulgarian productions and co-productions competed at the 32nd Golden Rose Film Festival

Stephan Komandarev’s The Judgement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] has won the top award at the Golden Rose Film Festival (11-17 October), Bulgaria’s second most important film gathering. The jury, chaired by Emil Christov, the winner of the 2013 edition with his The Color of the Chameleon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emil Christov
film profile], praised the “profoundly humanistic treatment of the psychological and terrestrial crossovers” in The Judgement. Pavel G Vesnakov received the Golden Rose Award for Best Short Film for Pride.

Milko Lazarov won the Best Director Award for Alienation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milko Lazarov
film profile], while the Best Screenwriter Award went to Ina Valchanova and Kostadin Bonev for The Sinking of Sozopol. Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s The Lesson [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile] snagged the Special Award of the City of Varna, the Critics’ Guild Award and the Accredited Journalists’ Award.

Kaloyan Bozhilov won Best Cinematography for Alienation, while Snezhina Petrova and Asen Blatechki received acting trophies for The Sinking of Sozopol and The Judgement, respectively.

Following the Oscar candidate controversy (see the news) and her own distribution plans for Viktoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maya Vitkova
film profile], Maya Vitkova refused to submit her film at Varna, a festival organised by Bulgaria’s National Film Center. Screened in a non-competitive sidebar of the festival, Viktoria was praised by some members of the jury as the most significant Bulgarian film of 2014. Ivan Nichev’s Bulgarian Rhapsody, the country’s candidate for the Oscars, was completely ignored during the announcement of the festival’s awards.