Isabel Coixet's Nobody Wants the Night - coproduction supported by Bulgarian National Film Center to open the 65th Berlinale
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 5 with the world premiere of Nobody Wants the Night, the most recent work by Spanish director Isabel Coixet. The Spanish-French-Bulgarian co-production will participate in the international competition.
The story takes place in 1908, in the Arctic seclusion of Greenland. The adventure film focuses on courageous women and ambitious men who put anything at stake for love and glory.
The ensemble cast includes international stars such as French actress and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (Camille Claudel 1915, The English Patient), Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, The Brothers Bloom) and Irish film artist Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing). Filming took place in Bulgaria, Norway and Spain.
Bulgarian coproducer is „One More Movie” (Ariel Ilieff), coproduction relesed with the support of Bulgarian National Film Center and the cooperation of the Embassy of Spain in Bulgaria.
“I'm very pleased that Nobody Wants the Night will open the 2015 Berlinale. Isabel Coixet has created an impressive and perceptive portrait of two women in extreme circumstances,” says Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlinale. “It will also be the first film to be screened in Dolby Atmos® in our Berlinale Palast.”
Six films by Isabel Coixet have already been presented in various sections of past Berlinale programmes, including My Life Without Me (2003) and Elegy (2008) in Competition. In 2009 Isabel Coixet was member of the festival’s International Jury.
Co-production between Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary with world premiere in Berlin
The second film with Bulgarian participation (“Nobody Wants the Night” to open the 65th Berlinale) will be screened at the Panorama Special section within the Official Program of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. This will be the world premiere of "Why me?" written and directed by acclaimed Romanian Director Tudor Giurgiu. Bulgarian producers are Borislav Chouchkov, Victor Chouchkov and Maria Metodieva from “Chouchkov Brothers" and the production released with the support of the Bulgarian National Film Center and Eurimages.
Tudor Giurgiu says: “A film so strongly grounded in reality can be made in a thousand ways. I am very much preoccupied with disassembling the mechanisms by which a man, who is strong both physically as well as figuratively, can come to take his own life within no more than 20 days. What internal mechanism is activated, when you find that the entire system within which you are working is corrupt and rotten to its very core? This is a film about the quick disintegration of a man who has chosen to fight the system from within”.
Based on real events, "Why Me?" tells the story of Cristian (played by Emilian Oprea), a young idealistic prosecutor whose career is on the rise, tries to crack a case against a senior colleague accused of corruption. The dilemma of choosing between his career and the truth weighs heavily on his shoulders. Looking further to solve the case, he enters a danger zone paved with unexpected and painful revelations.The main cast is Emilian Oprea, Mihai Constantin, Andreea Vasile, Dan Condurache and Liviu Pintileasa.
"We're very pleased that "Why me?" was selected at Berlinale. To work on this movie with our Romanian colleagues was a pleasure. We hope that we will be able to screen it in the cinemas, and that Bulgarian TV will have a desire to broadcast, because the story of the film is told in Romania, but it is completely updated for the reality in the past 10 years and is fully up to date for the Bulgarian political life”, says executive producer Borislav Chouchkov.
AFERIM!
Romania/ Bugaria / Czech Republic, 108min, 2015
Script: Radu Jude, Florian Lazarescu
Director: Radu Jude
Cinematography: Marius Panduru RSC
Producer: Ada Solomon – Hi Film (Romania)
Coproducers: Rossitsa Valkanova – Klas Film (Bulgaria), Jiri Konecny – Endorfilm (Czech Republic), Ovidiu Sandor – Mulberry Development (Romania)
In association with EZ Films
With the Support of Romanian CNC, Bulgarian National Film Centre, State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, MEDIA Programme of the EU, Eurimages
Contacts: Rossitsa Valkanova – Klas Film (Bulgaria), +359 898 503 702, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
World Sales: Beta Cinema
In 19th century Romania, Constantin, a policeman of the time and his son travel through the country in search of a fugitive Gipsy slave.
World Premiere
Official Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival 2015
Berlinale Co-Production Market
NY GYPSY
Music Comedy, 108min., HD, Bulgaria
In development
Expected release date: 2016
Written and directed by Ivaylo Markov
Directors of Photography: Boris Missirkov and Georgi Bogdanov
Produced by Martichka Bozhilova, AGITPROP
With the support of Bulgarian National Film Center and Creative Europe MEDIA
Fate brings Gypsy musician Pourko from Eastern Europe to New York, taking him on a roller coaster ride to musical success. Along the way he falls into some funny, and at times dangerous, mix-ups with his doppelganger – the infamous thief Johnny.
AGITPROP is probably the most awarded Bulgarian film production company. AGITPROP has produced a number of films (producer Martichka Bozhilova) – creative documentaries and fiction films with a strong author’s style, among with the internationally awarded GEORGI AND THE BUTTERFLIES (IDFA wunner), THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM AND OTHER STORIES (Cannes), CORRIDOR #8 (Berlinale), OMLETTE (Sundance). AGITPROP produced the first original Bulgarian content for HBO and National Geographic Channel. AGITPROP’s latest films include LOVE & ENGINEERING (Tribeca NY; Karlovy Vary 2014), DAD MADE DIRTY MOVIES (sold more than 30 territories), and THE BOY WHO WAS A KING (Toronto IFF). Martichka Bozhilova gas co-produced with Germany, USA, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Croatia, UAE. Among AGITPROP’s leading TV partners are: Channel 4, Sundance Channel, HBO, ARTE, PBS, YLE.
2015: Bulgarian Film’s Centenary
Bulgarian film community have been celebrating their professional holiday since 2005 on 13 January when the first public screening of Vasil Gendov’s The Bulgarian Is Gallant was held. The marking of the Bulgarian Filmmaker’s Day was initiated by the National Film Center.
In the early 2015, one hundred years elapse since that event. Various events are slated to be held throughout 2015 to celebrate this significant anniversary.
The marking of this very important to Bulgarian culture centenary will take place in two stages: official unveiling and then, a yearlong programme.
The visual concept of the event was developed by graphic designer Nikolay Tonkov-Ben.
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Nikolay Tonkov left for Germany in 1989 to study visual communication. In 1997 he set up his Berlin- and Sofia-based Formschlag design studio. He works two hours on a daily basis to develop his Like. Bulgaria campaign.
BULGARIAN FILMS' SCREENINGS IN BERLIN
AFERIM! - Oficial Competition
Romania/Bulgaria/Czech Republic, 108 min
Press:
Feb 11 at 09:00h at Berlinale Palast (Dual subtitles)
Gala Premiere
Feb 11 at 16:00h at Berlinale Palast / red carpet (Dual subtitles)
Feb 11 at 18:00h Q&A at Berlinale Open House / Audi Lounge
Additional screenings:
Feb 12 at 09:30h at Friedrichstadt Palast (English subtitles)
Feb 12 at 12:30h at Haus der Berliner Festspiele (Dual subtitles)
Feb 12 at 22:30h at International (Dual subtitles)
Feb 15 at 21:30 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele (Dual subtitles)
NOBODY WANTS THE NIGHT - Oficial Competition
Spain/France/Bulgaria, 118 min
Press:
Feb 5th at 12:00h at CinemaxX 7+3
Premiere – red carpet:
Feb 5th at 19:45h Opening Ceremony at Berlinale Palast (Film start will be approx. 20:30h), parallel transmission of Ceremony and film at
CinemaxX 3 à in both theatres invited guests only
Feb 5th at 20:30h time delayed transmission of Opening Ceremony and film at Friedrichstadt Palast.
Additional screenings:
Feb 6th at 12:00h and at 19:00h at Friedrichstadt Palast
Feb 15th at 13:00h at CinemaxX 7
Market
Fri Feb 06 17:45 CinemaxX 1
Mon Feb 09 11:15 CinemaxX 10
WHY ME? - Panorama Special
Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary, 132 min
Screenings:
Feb 6th at 20:00h at CineStar 7
Gala Premiere
Feb 11th at 19:30h at Kino International
Additional screenings
Feb 12th at 12:30h at CinemaxX 7
Feb 13th at 22:00h at Zoo Palast 2
Feb 15th at 17:00h at Cubix 9
Market
Sat Feb 07 14:45 CinemaxX Studio 16
LESSON – EFM
Bulgaria/Greece
Market
Sat Feb 07 10:30 CinemaxX Studio 19
Mon Feb 09 13:30 CinemaxX Studio 19