11/03/2016 - With one DffB-produced title in competition and a host of productions and co-productions in the various sections of the important Bulgarian event, Germany is well represented

The Sofia International Film Festival (10-20 March) is welcoming a diverse selection of German-produced or co-produced titles this year, beginning with Eliza Petkova's Zhaleika [+see also:
film review
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film profile], selected in the international feature competition. The film was produced by the prestigious Berlin film and television school DffB. The young director is also presenting a German/Bulgarian coproduction in the Best Festival Shorts section.

Germany is particularly well represented In the documentary competition, with Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck, and Heiko Lange's DEF Media production B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the running, as well as the Finnish/German title Return of the Atom by Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola (coproduced by German outfit Blinker Filmproduktion), Ben Hopkins' Yearning [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (coproduced by Geissendörfer Film-und Fernsehproduktion and Bredok Filmproduktion), the German/Georgian project When the Earth Seems to Be Light by Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze, and David Meskhi, Roman Bondarchuk's Ukrainian Sheriffs, and the Irish-Swedish-Dutch-German doc Mr. Gaga [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Tomer Heymann. Out of Competition, the festival is screening Martin Reinhardt, Thomas Tode, and Manu Luksch's Dreams Rewired, coproduced by Germany with Austrian partners.

In the Balkans Competition, two coproductions have been selected: the acclaimed Kosovo-based story Babai [+see also:
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interview: Visar Morina
film profile] by Visar Morina (coproduced by the German company NiKo Film) and Serbian director Goran Radovanovic's Enclave [+see also:
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A special section is dedicated to Wim Wenders' 3D films, and Germany is also present as a coproducer in the retrospective sidebar dedicated to the Hungarian maestro Bela Tarr, as well as the special section on Ted Kotcheff. Amongst the festival's Special Screenings is Marcus Vetter's The Forecaster. The Voices Unlocked sidebar includes two fully German productions: Sibylle Schönemann's Locked Up Time and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's fantastic The Lives of Others [+see also:
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interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile].