Sofia International Film Festival

How did “Sofia Meetings” exact­ly help in the production of movies of young Bulgarian filmmakers and in finding partners?

It helped in establishing contacts with extremely helpful and
experienced people, with sharing of the experiences of these people by
raising the level of writing the screenplays, screenwriting development,
the basics of the regula­tion mechanisms for doing co-produc­tions. It
turned into a know-how on how to do the things and how they happen.

Which are some of the emblem­atic films realized?

Let’s start with the movie Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which started the new Romanian wave by its selection at Cannes 6-7 years ago, The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner, which is currently the biggest Bulgarian co-production; Zincogra­ph, directed by Emil Hristov, the French co-production And If We All Lived Together
of the young director Stephane Robelin. These are projects which have
been also shot as movies. There are over 70% completion of the films
which have been presented as projects. This is a very good percent­age,
but when we talk about films, the quality is the most important thing
and we can not aim at a quantitative indica­tor. It is very good that
these projects were lucky, that they have happened and pleased the
audience. It is also necessary to pay attention to the Balkan screening –
films which are presented in closed screenings to the festival
repre­sentatives and distributors. Actually in recent years the impetus
in the Bulgar­ian filmmaking and the good festival career for most
Bulgarian films started from “Sofia Meetings.”

What are your expectations from Robert Bosch as a partner of the fes­tival?

Robert Bosch have been our tra­ditional partner for many years. A lot 
of Bulgarian short films have been able to benefit from their aid. I
will mention Boris Despodov, Andrey Paounov and Vessela Dantcheva who
were assisted in their short projects. For the first time we have a
training, which aims to inte­grate the countries of the Black Sea and
the Caucasian region, projects from Ar­menia, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria. For one reason or another, the
educational system in filmmaking is not well developed in the region. Of
course, that has an impact on the projects themselves. The idea was to
gather young people, to meet them with the experts and to give them a
push to make movies.

What qualities, in your opinion, must a producer or a director have to make a good pitching?

It turned out that to make a good pitching is not an easy job! We have
planned one day before the start of “Sofia Meetings”, devoted to the
preparation of the participants of the festival on how to pitch. To tell
everything you want within 3-5 or 7 minutes is a mastery! You should
be able to sift out the most interesting for those who listen –
producers, funds’ rep­resentatives, distributors. They must be
fascinated. For example, in the elevator, you may come across the
producer you have chased for a long time and you must present your
project within 30-60 sec. Therefore you have to always be prepared and
to know what you are doing and to be able to formulate it in a few
sentences. Immediately to speak of figures, of what you need and where
from.

Read the whole interview on SIFF's website.