Dragomir Sholev– Have you already seen any of the competitive films and what can you say about them? Thank you for that question. I feel great. I’m very careful not to catch the flu. – It is not your first participation in the competition programme of the Sofia International Film Festival – you have previously won awards for your short films. What has changed in the Festival since you won the Jameson Short Film Award for Before Life, After Death? I am very proud that ...

Gabrielle BrunnenmeyerHaving worked as a journalist and film critic, Gabriele Brunnenmeyer was in charge of the MEDIA Antenna Berlin-Brandenburg, acting as an artistic adviser for MEDIA training initiative Moonstone International in regard to Eastern and Central Europe and organising workshops for directors and screenwriters in Germany. Her main activity in the last 10 years was the development of the East-West-Coproduction Market Connecting Cottbus at the Cottbus Film Festival which she was r...

Claudia CardinaleIn the past couple of years you haven’t been appearing on the big screen that often, perhaps you don’t have offers for the more interesting roles that you want? Claudia Cardinale: That’s not true; I have been involved in various productions in recent years, mainly by younger directors. Last year I worked in Tunisia, which was the backdrop for Mehdi Ben Attia’s film Le fil, Istanbul (Signora Enrica) and then in New York for Joy de V. by a student of Werner Herzog. ...

Fridrik Thor FridrikssonThe Chairman of the International Jury Fridrik Thor Fridriksson is a phenomenal storyteller – not only in his films but also in an informal chat. On the day of the first show of his film Mamma Gogo at Sofia International Film Festival, we managed to have a  ‘walk and talk’ at high speed through his works, which have enriched the history of the cinema with masterpieces like Devil’s Island,  Cold Fever and the  well-known in Bulgaria Angels of the Universe, Nic...

Andrzej Zulawski- You shot your last film in 2000. What replaced cinema in your career? I have written 25 books and I have directed 13 films, so as you can see literature occupies most of my time. Ten years ago I went through a dramatic period in my personal life and Hemingway once said something I believe in too, “If it was a real love you’ll never fully recover from it.” A lot of things happened at once – personal problems which forced me to give up several projects in France an...

Goran PaskalevicPerhaps the most original Serbian director today is in Sofia for the meeting of the Bord of the European Film Academy. As a member of EFA Goran Paskaljevic took part in Sofia Meetings and he also found a time in his hectic schedule to talk with me about his last five films from Balkan Cabaret (1998) onwards. SIFF’s audiences are familiar with all of them. When I end working on a certain film I immediately start working on a new one. Balkan Cabaret (1998) is a film about...

Viktor Chouchkov- This is the first selection of TILT in an international competition of a film festival, what are your expectations? The first participation of TILT in a competition was at Golden Rose 2010 where it won three awards – the jury’s special award, best male lead performance and a special award for Ovanes Torosian’s performance. So far we have participated at the festivals in Santa Barbara, US and Gothenburg, Sweden and many more, I can’t even remember all of them. But...

Danis TanovicProbably one of the most long-awaited guests and for sure one of the favorite directors of the audience especially of SIFF (since 2002, the year of No Man’s Land – the film, the Oscar, the wine, the whole story) Danis Tanovic finally came to Sofia to meet his devoted audience. After the screening of his new film Circus Columbia following the Ceremony of bestowing the awards of SIFF there is no need to talk. Circus Columbia is an original piece of artistic work, saying ev...

Dunja Klemenc Some Other Stories is a co-production between Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Ireland. Each of the five segments in the film has been shot by a team from one of the ex Yugoslavia countries. The common theme is that of motherhood and all the five stories place their protagonist in extreme situations where they ask themselves what does it take to be a mother, to give life… especially in a world that is far from hospitable. The stories, the a...

Hossein Keshavarz- We live in a globalization nowadays, but if you have to compare the problems of the young people in Iran and the problems of the young people in the Western world, where are the main differences? If you asked me this a year or two ago, I would have said that there are not many differences.  Iranians are preoccupied by the same things that people in the rest of the world are preoccupied with – love, money, family. So most of the stories of the film are mundane – like ...

Bence MiklauzicThe director of one of the films from the International Competition, Children of the Green Dragon, Bence Miklauzic, replied with a smile to the question that is asked to every guest of the festival, whether he has been to Bulgaria before, “It is my first time in Sofia, but my second time in Bulgaria. As a child, 20 years ago, I was also one of the tourists that came for their vacation to the Black Sea.” - Is the story of the unusual friendship between a Hungarian and a ...

Paul Fraser– My Brothers is your debut feature film as a director, but you have been also working as an actor and screenwriter – was it difficult for you to make this film? I feel like I have spent many years hanging around on film sets so although it was my debut it was by no means an alien environment. I was surrounded by a fantastic crew and three first time actors, so there was a perfect blend of experience and awe! We had a small budget and a short shoot so the main problems was...

Ognjen Sviličić, Sylvia ChristelThe famous Croatian film director Ognjen Sviličić, internationally renown with his movies Sorry for Kung Fu (2004) and Armin (2007), is coming to Sofia Fil Festival with his new film Two Sunny Days (feat. Silvia Kristel – an experiment, but also a natural decision, as the director says). Sviličić, who is also a musician from a new wave punk band, which he considers, joking, the Croatian version of the Festival Band of Stefan Kitanov, is a member o...