For the ninth consecutive year, Sofia will be shaken by its major movie event, The Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF), in the beginning of March.
Ever since the early 1990s, when the first two Rock Film Fest music film festivals and the first Music Film Fest in 1997 were held, to be later transformed into the current SIFF, the event has been considered as one of the major cultural and film events in Bulgaria and has attracted considerable audiences.
After the success of the Kinomania film festival in the 1980s, remembered for the long queues in front of the NDK box office, the SIFF became the event during which movie fans could enjoy award winning films from all over the world, which would be otherwise not shown in ordinary cinemas theatres or available for rent at video stores.
Festival director Stefan Kitanov promised that this year the festival would be more ambitious than ever before, and would offer an extremely wide selection of films of all genres.
Even though the selection is not completely finalised, the films whose screening is confirmed, include the latest Wim Wenders film, Land of Plenty - "Extremely beautiful film about sad things. A film about how America changed…," which won the UNESCO award at the Venice Film Festival in 2004.
The organisers have also promised to show the latest film by Emir Kusturitsa, the bittersweet comedy, Life is a Miracle.
Other gala screenings will include Wong Kar Wai's 2046, Francois Ozon's 5x2, UK director Mike Leigh's drama Vera Drake and hopefully, the latest film by Danny Boyle, Millions.
The European Film Academy Gala will feature the screening of the Spanish drama The Sea Inside by Alejandro Amenabar.
The Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was supposed to be shown at this past autumn's Kinomania, but did not arrive, will be shown at the SIFF.
The highly acclaimed The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about a motorcycle trip through South America by Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado, is also expected to be shown at the film festival.
In the international selection, in which films will be competing for the big festival award of 5000 euro provided traditionally by Stella Artois, there will be 11 films, from the US, Austria, Argentina, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Macedonia, Iran, Germany and the Bulgarian film Incineration, which was first shown at the Kinomania festival.
There will also be a European selection, Balkan Film Meetings, a selection of New Norwegian Cinema, marking the 100th anniversary of the independence of Norway, Bulgarian films, new Argentine films, a selection of documentaries and a retrospective of Francois Ozon.
In honour of the historical roots of the SIFF as a music film festival, the organisers are planning to show a selection of musical films.
Special attention is deserved by the filmed account of a large Canadian rock train festival in the 1960s featuring performances by Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy and other music stars of that era.
Another interesting film is the documentary Musica Cubana, which, given the cult status of Buena Vista Social Club in Bulgaria, is expected to fill the hall.
The SIFF will also feature three blues films, The Soul of a Man by Wim Wenders, with Beck, Nick Cave, Eagle Eye Cherry, Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed and many others; Martin Scorsese's Feels Like Going Home and Mike Figgis's Red, White and Blues.
For the third time as a part of the SIFF will be the competition for the Jameson Award for short film, which is traditionally given to young Bulgarian filmmakers.
The SIFF will take place between March 4 and 13 in Sofia, in Hall 1 of NDK, the Lumiere cinema, Dom na Kinoto (Cinema Home), Centre Cinema and Odeon Cinema.
The festival will have additional screenings in Sofia and Bourgas after the end of the official screenings.