Bulgaria Film Fest 'Cinemania' Opening Friday

Cinemania, the long-established Bulgarian film festival, will open on Friday evening with a showing of Spanish director Carlos Saura’s “I, Don Giovanni”.

Actor Lorenzo Balducci, the star of the film, will be a special guest at the opening night, which is to be held at the Bulgarian National Palace of Culture (NDK).

Between November 13 and December 3, the festival, now in its 23rd year, will present 86 films, drawn from all over the world.

The program includes the first-ever international remake of a Bulgarian film, “Yo Ho Ho”, originally shot in 1981, and scripted by Valeri Petrov. The new version, entitled “The Fall”, has been 7 years in the making, and has been directed by Tarsem Singh.

Francis Ford Coppola’s successful movie “Tetro” will also been shown. This visual experiment, shot in black and white, earned critical acclaim at this year’s Cannes festival.

The latest production of Steven Soderbergh, “The Girlfriend Experience” and a new offering by James Ivory, "The City of Your Final Destination", will also be shown as part of the festival.

The festival was first held in 1987, under the title of World Film Panorama. The name Cinemania was added in 1991. The range of film categories and international participation have increased considerably during the past 23 years. By now, the festival features the best of independent American production, and new films from Bulgaria, the Balkan countries, Europe and Asia.

Cinemania 2009 screenings will take place at various venues in Sofia: at NDK, Lumiere Europa Cinema Hall, Cinema House, Odeon, Euro Cinema and Lucky Cinema Hall. In addition, there will be a series of seminars, and presentations of new books relating to the cinema.