Celluloid celebration

With Romanian films gaining in popularity in Poland - due in part to successes at this year's Festival de Cannes - and Warsaw recently hosting a Russian film festival, Bulgaria's is the next regional film industry to tempt local cinephiles. A one-week celebration of Bulgarian cinema, titled "Spojrzenie na Kino Bułgarskie" (A Look at Bulgarian Cinema), presenting the latest films, will be held in Warsaw, Kraków and Gdańsk from December 10-17.

The festival will take place simultaneously in the three cities. Although Warsaw will see the largest number of showings, content will be the same in Kraków and Gdańsk.

"We want to show Bulgaria, which is already an established tourist destination for Poles, as a place attractive for its cultural offer as well. By choosing the best of the latest Bulgarian films, we would like to invite Poles to improve their acquaintance with our culture," said Boriana Puncheva, director of the Bulgarian Institute of Culture.

During the festival, audiences will be able to choose between 12 Bulgarian films produced over the last few years, many of which have received awards and positive reviews internationally. The films to be shown include And God Came Down to See, Letter to America, Mila from Mars and Monkeys in Winter. Two films, L's Revolt and Stolen Eyes, will have their official Polish premieres during the festival, before being distributed throughout Poland at the beginning of 2008.

"In January and February the movies from the festival program will be also shown in most of the biggest Polish cities, and we would like to turn this event into an annual review of what is happening in modern Bulgarian cinema," Puncheva said.