The 19th edition of the International Short Film Festival IN THE PALACE is over. More than 270 films were screened in the Palace of Culture – Pernik, 161 of them in the competition program. Between 31 May and 7 June, film professionals from all over the world arrived for the festival.
A 13-member jury evaluated the competing films and projects. Directors of 6 European short film festivals watched the official selection and met the film representatives.
The winners of the Oscar®-qualifying Silver Princess competition are:
Best Bulgarian Film – “Torn” directed by Stefani Doichinova, produced by Veselka Kiriakova ( Red Carpet Films ), which also received the grand prize of BGN 10,000 from the Lachezar Tsotzorkov Foundation; Best Feature Film – “My Eyes” by Italian director Tomazo Acquarone; Best Animation – “Cyclicity” by Pablo Poyedri from Spain.
Best Experimental Film – “Wall Piano” directed by Asma Ganem, Christopher Marianetti, Alexia Webster; Best Documentary – “Holy Whore” directed by Fred Mascaras; Best Student Animation – “The Other Half” directed by. Lina Kalcheva; Best Student Feature Film – “The Whole Life” directed by Marlene Rios-Fariat;
The “Lachezar Tsotzorkov” Foundation also awards a prize of BGN 10,000 to the Bulgarian project “Bitter” directed by Dimitar Velkov and produced by Garthy Films, selected as the winner of the pitching session of IN THE PALACE. The project also receives BGN 10,000 for filming equipment provided by FOUR ELEMENTS Production & Services and BGN 5,000 for PR services from 8 PM Studio.
In addition to the screenings of the competition categories, IN THE PALACE festival showed the audience short films nominated and awarded by the French Film Academy CEZAR, the European Film Academy, the Italian Short Film Centre, New Bulgarian University and a number of European festivals.
This year’s IN THE PALACE festival programme also included a number of parallel events – a pitching module in two rounds, daily Q&A sessions, industry discussions, an international interdisciplinary conference on “The Short Film: Themes, Trends, Perceptions”, a workshop on making an 8mm film.
International Short Film Festival IN THE PALACE is supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission, the Municipality of Pernik, the Lachezar Tsotzorkov Foundation, the National Culture Fund, the National Film Centre and with the media support of NOVA.
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