Both directors will be special guests at the festival, with Patricia Mazuy serving as the President of the International Jury.
More than twenty years after presenting her second feature film Saint-Cyr, 2000, starring Isabelle Huppert, in the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes, French director Patricia Mazuy is once again working with the virtuoso actress. With Visiting Hours, she returned to Cannes in 2024, this time in the Directors’ Fortnight section, telling a story of friendship between two women whose husbands are behind bars—serving long sentences for serious crimes. Mazuy explores the unexpected bond that can form between them and how intuitive decisions sometimes shape people’s destinies. The film reveals that even without their husbands’ physical presence, the two women are capable of appreciating the freedom they possess and supporting each other. Visiting Hours skillfully and delicately highlights shared humanity and kindness. The lead actresses bring the story to life in a remarkable way, and the film will be presented at the Sofia International Film Festival by its director and co-writer Patricia Mazuy, who will also preside over the International Jury for first and second films and will present the Grand Prize "Sofia – City of Film" on behalf of the Sofia Municipality.
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Italian director Uberto Pasolini, known for Nowhere Special (2020) and Still Life (2013), is also widely recognized as the producer of the acclaimed The Full Monty (1997). His latest work, premiered at Toronto '24, brings together the incomparable Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, portraying two of the most famous characters in world literature—Homer’s Odysseus and his faithful wife, Penelope.
The Return is an adaptation that does not strictly follow the ancient Greek epic, omitting the divine interventions and mythical creatures of Homer’s tale. Instead, the focus is on Odysseus' homecoming after spending a decade at war outside the walls of Troy and another ten years struggling through various maritime challenges. The King of Ithaca returns exhausted and unrecognizable but must confront his past to find the strength to save his family and reclaim his lost love.
The key theme of The Return is the drama of a man crushed by fate and the connection with his closest loved ones, whom he left behind in pursuit of glory and recognition. Fiennes delivers a powerfully moving performance, while Binoche’s exceptional talent transforms Penelope into the unique, unforgettable woman that generations of Homer’s admirers have envisioned. The chemistry between the two actors, last seen together in the Oscar-winning The English Patient, is once again at the heart of this deeply intuitive and contemplative film by Uberto Pasolini, who will personally present his work in Sofia.
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