“The motto of Cinelibri 2025, “Froth on the Daydream”, is a reference to the fragile ethereality of existence, scattered in the streams of time with the unpredictable freedom of jazz improvisation. In the world of Boris Vian, imagination reigns as the supreme law, and fiction as the only and indisputable truth. Refracted through the prism of books and cinema, this truth shines brighter, more hopeful and noble. And that is precisely why, at the Cinelibri festival, words and images change their places while remaining in perfect harmony; fantasy and reality do not argue; and the grace of imagination becomes the most direct way to the essence of life.”
Jacqueline Wagenstein
The eleventh edition of the Cinеlibri IFF took place from October 10 to November 3, 2025 under the motto “Froth on the Daydream” – inspired by Boris Vian’s amazing novel, as realistic as it is surreal, innocent and moving. For the first time, the motto was accompanied by a subtitle – “Projections of Reality”. But literature and cinema do not simply reflect life, they rethink and recreate it with the help of imagination. The philosophical interpretation of the expression “Froth on the Daydream” is connected with the idea of the lightness of existence and the myth of eternal return. On the other hand, the foam of days is a hint at the need to resist everything that surfaces today, against ruination and moral degradation. We respond to destruction with creative energy and sympathy for the pain of the other, and to the malice of the day we oppose the grace of imagination.
Cinelibri 2025 took place between October in Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Varna and Stara Zagora.
OPENING FILM:
THE STRANGER (2025) directed by François Ozon
After its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the long-awaited new film by the renowned French director François Ozon marked the grand opening of Cinelibri 2025. It was shown on October 10 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture immediately after the festive ceremony of the eleventh edition of the Book-to-Film Festival. “The Stranger” (2025) is an adaptation of the iconic work of Albert Camus – a manifesto of the existential idea of alienation, absurdity and the gap between the individual and the world. This novel is considered the pinnacle of the literary work of the famous Nobel Prize winner. According to critics, François Ozon transforms the mythical classic into a true cinematic mystery, cool and disturbing, and actor Benjamin Voisin, who plays Meursault, builds an excellent portrait of dissatisfaction and its subversive charge, while the character – as in the novel – remains untouchable for psychological analysis and diagnosis. The main achievement of the film lies in Ozon’s productive refusal to adhere literally to the literary text, in the “enhanced” female characters and the skillful recreation of the atmosphere in pre-war Algeria.
Stars: Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant, Swann Arlaud
A JOKE | North Macedonia, Croatia 2024
