Bulgarian movie "Shelter" of Director Dragomir Sholev was bestowed the Grand Prix award of the 15th edition of Sofia Film Fest.

The award ceremony took place Saturday evening in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in downtown Sofia.

The award includes a diploma, trophy statuette and EUR 5 000 for the Director and the Producer, Rossitsa Valkanova. They were handed the prize in person by the Chairman of the international jury, Fridrik Tor Fridrikson.

"Shelter" also received the Kodak award for best Bulgarian feature film – a diploma, a film negative and lab services in the amount of USD 2 000 provided by Kodak Cinelabs – Bulgaria.

The Domain Boyar award for best Balkan film was given by the Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics to another Bulgarian movie – "Footsteps in the Sand" of Director Ivaylo Hristov. The award was received by the film's Producer, Asen Vladimirov, and consists of a diploma, a case of wine and a voucher for EUR 1 000 for the Director, provided by Domain Boyar.

The Jury Special Award went to "White Snow" (Turkey) of Director Selim Gunes.

The Best Director Award went to Joao Nuno Pinto for his film "America" (Spain-Brazil-Portugal-Russia).

The Jameson Short Film Award for Best Bulgarian Short Film was bestowed to "Trains" of Director Pavel Vesnakov. The award was handed out by prominent Bulgarian film Director Kamen Kalev. It consists of a diploma, trophy statuette and a cash prize of EUR 6 000, provided by Jameson Irish Whiskey.

The Bulgarian National Television's Award for best documentary went to "The Rules of Single Life" of Director, Tonislav Hristov. For the first time the best documentary was selected by the audience.

The FIPRESCI Award was bestowed to the film "Sound of Noise" by Directors Ola Simonson and Johannes Stjarne Nilsson.

The international jury members included Fridrik Tor Fridrikson (Iceland) – Director, Alvaro Brechner (Uruguay) – Director, Kamen Kalev (Bulgaria) – Director, Gabriele Brunnenmeier (Germany) – Industry expert and journalist, and Ognjen Svilicic (Croatia) – Director.

The festival presented a total of 205 films (118 movies, 24 documentaries and over 60 shorts) from all over the world. A total of 260 international guests were presnt - film directors, producers, festival directors, film experts and journalists.

Sofia International Film Festival concludes on March 15th with a gala screening of Aleksei Uchitel's film "The Edge."

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