Producers by the Sea is supported by the Bulgarian National Film Center and it was organised as part of the Mannheim Meeting Place (MPP), the Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF’s annual platform specialised in on-the-job support of start-up producers in international coproduction.

The local Bulgarian Project Feeder Channel for MMP included six projects represented by their producers. The level of the international experts was particularly high. The two day event was moderated by the MMP coordinator Julek Kedzierski.

“This is an extremely important event for the festival and Congress Center in Varna as one of our main missions is to help young people”, manager Toshko Gyaurov told FNE.

A total of 110 films were screened including 12 titles in the International Feature Film competition and 10 in the Youth Cinema competition.

The festival opened with Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War (Opus Film, Apocalypso Film and MK Production) and wrapped with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Golden Palm winner Shoplifters.

International Jury Awards:

Best Film:
The Troupe (Hungary)
Directed by Pál Sándor

Special Jury Award for Best Director:
Le Fidèle (Belgium, France)
Directed by Michaël R. Roskam

Best Actress:
Adèle Exarchopoulos for Le Fidèle directed by Michaël R. Roskam

Best Actor:
Alexander Perkins for Happy Birthday,Toby Simpson (UK)
Directed by Patrick Makin

Young Jury Award:
Worlds Apart (Greece)
Directed by Christoforos Papakaliatis

Other Awards:

Union of the Bulgarian Filmmakers Award:
The Infinite Garden (Bulgaria)
Directed by Galin Stoev
Produced by Agitprop

Bulgarian Film Critics’s Award:
Tomato Red (Ireland)
Directed by Juanita Wilson

Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication from the St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University Award:
The 12th Man (Norway)
Directed by Harald Zwart

Golden Aphrodite Life Achievement Award: Itzhak Fintzi