Film-lovers, novices and experts alike, will have the opportunity to participate in an open class on cinema and theatre through the Interactive Colloquium Paris/Sofia: Views to the World, to be held on March 8 and 9 in Ivan Vazov National Theatre.

This year is the third that such open classes have been held in Bulgaria, with this weekend’s being the eighth so far. A project of Executive Production Sofilm Patrick Sandrin and Bulgarian National Television, lecturers and participants this time include producer Patrick Sandrin, actress Emanouela Shkodreva, screenwriter and producer Charles Tesson, theatre director Bernard Sobel, the lecturer, critic and writer Jean Douchet and film director Yavor Gurdev.

The Saturday morning session is themed Silent Film and the Beginning of Talkies, which will show scenes from films by Melies, Griffith, Chaplin, Tod Browning, Murnau, Jean Renoir, Sacha Guitry and more. The afternoon will focus on The Limits of Theatre and Cinema, looking at how the two interact through clips from films by Vesna Ljubic, Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, Otto Preminger and others, followed by a discussion on how they have progressed through the 20th century.

On Sunday, attendees will learn about The Filming of Theatre Plays, in a session that deals with adaptation of theatrical works for the screen and how Shakespeare has been addressed in cinema. The afternoon will look at The Theatre in Cinema, including when cinema makes use of theatre and how death on screen is dealt with. The colloquium will wrap up with a discussion on the relationship between cinema and theatre today.

Interactive Colloquium Paris/Sofia: Views to the World will be in Bulgarian and French, with dual interpretation assured. Registration is free-of-charge and open to all interested. For more information, contact caroline@sofilm.net