The Circuit

by Will Tizard   

Sofia's 12-year-old film fest has kept pace well with the Bulgarian capital's transformation from struggling ex-Soviet satellite to viable European Union member state. But there's no need to worry that the city's becoming another Brussels, certainly, with dull, tidy streets and respectable businesses doing transparent commerce.

As the Sofia fest's many fans can attest, the city could easily serve as the backdrop for a gangster or spy pic. In a month or two it will look more like a "Bourne Ultimatum" scene, with every street packed with revelers and traffic; as it is, the hordes are just starting to gather on street corners in the evening hours. Traffic, of course, never changes in the countries of the New Europe, where everyone with the means (and many without) have seen car ownership as the ultimate proof of status. Unfortunately the civic authorities have not even come close to keeping up roads to a level where they might support them all.

Even sidewalks can be hazardous, as native Bulgarians will caution you - and it became apparent on fine morning while walking in front of a fest hotel, the Central Park. Probably equally dangerous, though far more difficult to swerve away from, was the traditional Balkan food and music feast put on at the Pod Lipite restaurant by Sofia Meetings, the 5-year-old forum for local filmmakers on the rise. The variations on gilled meat, sausage, cheese, pastries and alcohol are almost endless and the charm of the rustic eatery, well-known to Sofia visitors, make you just about think it's harmless fun to stuff yourself into oblivion.

When fest director Stefan Kitanov (pictured) comes around to every one of the hundred or so guests to clink glasses, you're generally so enchanted you've long since forgotten about the state of your arteries completely.

It's all business the next day, though, as interesting young helmer-scribes like Germany's Marc Meyer gather at the Military Club, a stately, if crumbling, former salon for retired generals and the like, to pitch their projects. Meyer, who won acclaim for "Family Rules," is now trying to develop a pic that updates the story from the classic blues song "Hey Joe," titled "Love in Your Hand," told as a road movie with a Turkish medical worker as its anti-hero.

Sofia Meetings fosters directors who have already proven they can pull of a feature of originality, thus it attracts a fair number of scouts, sales agents and distribs from the west who are eager for a look.
Antje Teinzer, from the small German shingle Media Luna, was a typical attendee, and admitted seeing more than one pitch that looked promising. It's hard to tell for sure whether a film is right for her from its spiel, she confided, but if it's not, "You can tell instantly. It's like, 'No way.'"

The Military Club's balcony (pictured), where smokers (that is, almost everyone) gather between sessions has taken to setting a quota on the number who can be out there at any time. It would be easy to infer something about infrastructure, or perhaps the hazards of smoking in Sophia, but most seem more intent on the dozens of new ideas and work being shopped around. If there's a little risk around, however, it's nothing that an indie filmmaker or buyer can't take on without batting an eye. After all, no risk, no rewards, right? And the discoveries are clearly here to be made, as is clear from the many Bulgarian and Balkan award winners this year.

One that particularly caught the attention of Sofia Meetings head Mira Staleva, "Zift," is an atmosphere Bulgarian noir tale set in the 60s by Javor Gardev. It's one of the works in progress being showcased by the event, is one that would be well worth taking on, she believes.  Let's just hope that whoever does makes it back


Photos: Sofia's awards ceremony courtesy of the festival; Stefan Kitanov and the Military Club by Will Tizard.