When a master documentarian, twice nominated for an Oscar and the recipient of three awards from Berlinale – for “The Act of Killing” and “The Look of Silence”, from BAFTA, a European Film Academy Award, and dozens of prizes from festivals around the world – decides that he wants to tell a story about the end of the world as a musical, the film inevitably becomes an intriguing and important highlight in the Sofia Film Festival program. Joshua Oppenheimer takes a serious risk with his fiction debut because it cannot be defined by traditional labels, but in it the characters played by Tilda Swinton (who is also the film’s co-producer), George MacKay, Moses Ingram, and Michael Shannon sing and tell a story about a global catastrophe. A family from a former elite lives in a luxurious shelter deep beneath the earth’s surface, where they have raised their son. Unexpectedly, a young woman—a survivor from “the upper world”—appears among them, and the decades-long constructed calm gradually begins to crumble. The End possesses the qualities that can turn a work into a contemporary film classic. Screenings are scheduled for March 30 at the House of Cinema and on April 3 at Odeon Cinema.
Screenwriter and director Ido Fluk manages to realize an intriguing musical improvisation – Köln 75 – with his film, which had its special gala screening at Berlinale ‘25 and will be shown a month later in the Sofia Film Festival program. Much like the music to which it is dedicated, the work is an unpredictable and nonconformist drama about the thriving jazz scene in Berlin in the 1970s. The story follows an enthusiastic and energetic teenager who finds herself drawn into the world of jazz. Still in high school when she begins producing and promoting musical concerts in Cologne, she risks everything to organize the legendary concert of the brilliant American pianist Keith Jarrett, whose album has become one of the best-selling jazz records of all time. The audience in Sofia will have the opportunity to choose from eight festival screenings through the end of March.
Тhe Village Next to Paradise opens with a news report on drone airstrikes in Somalia, and the audience should perhaps expect a narrative imbued with military trauma and death. Yet that is only an interesting solution for a shocking beginning from screenwriter and director Mo Harawe, who suddenly shifts to a quieter and more personal story. In fact, his film is a family drama in which a feckless father and his sister raise his smart and talented son in a small African village. In order to support his family, the modest and steadfast father takes on all kinds of jobs, some of which are not entirely legal. This touching story of fatherhood and personal sacrifice is presented as a sincere portrait of the reality in Somalia, a reality that can be discovered beyond the headlines. The feature debut of Harawe, who was born in Mogadishu and now lives in Vienna, arrives in Sofia with a nomination for the “Golden Camera” at Cannes and with Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress, as well as the award for Best Austrian Film from Viennale ‘24, and it will be presented by his producer and member of the Balkan jury at the festival, Oliver Neumann. Screenings are planned for March 18 at the G8 Cultural Center and on March 22 at Vlaykova Cinema.
Brazilian screenwriter and director Sacha Amaral presented The Pleasure Is Mine as a project at Sofia Meetings in 2018, and in 2024 he was awarded three prizes at the most prestigious independent cinema festival, BAFICI, including the Grand Prize for Best Film. After festival participations in Poland, France, and the United Kingdom, it is now time for its presentation in Sofia. A co-production between Argentina, France, and Brazil, this story delves into the dark, disconcerting corners of modern urban life – at its core is Antonio, who walks the line between morality and unsavory offers through the sale of marijuana and the deft manipulation of people he meets via dating apps. The internal conflict of the protagonist and his complex relationship with his mother become the driving forces for his desire to escape—from those around him and from reality. Sacha Amaral graduated in stage directing from the National University of the Arts in Argentina, where he is currently a lecturer in dramaturgy. The world premiere of his first feature film as a screenwriter, So long Enthusiasm (2017), took place at Berlinale; his second short film, Billy Boy, was part of the official selection at the Cannes festival in 2021. The Pleasure Is Mine will be shown to cinephiles in Sofia on March 14 at the French Institute – Slaveykov Hall, and on March 25 at the G8 Cultural Center.
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