The Day of Bulgarian Cinema was celebrated in Sofia - the City of Cinema

On January 13, Sofia celebrated the Day of Bulgarian Cinema. In honor of the holiday, the National Film Center in cooperation with Sofia Municipality and the National Palace of Culture organized screenings of Bulgarian movies in 5 cinemas in Sofia.

Sofia was declared UNESCO’s Creative City of Cinema in 2014 not only because of its rich cultural calendar but also because of the development of the film industry, which has a remarkable contribution to the city's economy. The film industry is world-class, and the city hosts major festivals such as Sofia Film Fest, Cinemania (Kinomania) and others. The biggest film studios in Bulgaria are in Sofia. Many of the professionals in this field live and work here.

In recent years, around 90 film projects were supported by Sofia Culture Program and the film commission - 12 documentary and feature films in 2018. They include the movies Sonya Yoncheva – the Path of a Diva dedicated to the world-famous opera singer, Five Minutes Sofia – the City, What Colour is this World, Runaway Smartphone, Bubblegum, Omnipresent, and others.

The vision for Sofia as a creative city of cinema envisages its establishment as the leading center of the film industry in Europe. The film industry in Sofia is second (after the software and video games one) in terms of growth of value added over the past eight years. This is according to the data provided by the Observatory of Cultural Economics. The arts, the cultural and creative industries, the cultural heritage and cultural tourism ranked fourth in value added (8.5%) in Sofia's economy. The film industry in Sofia is developing and more than 800 organizations are involved in this sector.

Sofia will be awaiting you at the 23rd edition of Sofia Film Fest which will take place in the Bulgarian capital from March 7 to March 17, 2019. The world-famous film director Krzysztof Zanussi will receive the Sofia Award at the Festival. The event will be very interesting as you will have the opportunity to watch dozens of movies!

You can find more information at http://siff.bg/en/.