Director Sergey Loznitsa and producer Aton Sоumache will judge the films in the Best Book-to-Film Adaptation Competition
The eleventh edition of the Cinelibri International Book-to-Film Festival is on the horizon and will be held this fall under the motto “Froth on the Daydream: Projections of Reality” – inspired by the novel of the same name by Boris Vian. Froth on the Daydream is not just a dizzying word game, but a real explosion of fantasy, an apology for fiction, which, according to the author, is no less true than reality, but is more trustful and noble than it.
Cinelibri IFF is held annually in the Bulgarian capital since 2015. It is one-of-a-kind film festival designed to select and show films based on works of literature from different eras and genres. Prize-winners are habitually announced by an International Jury, composed of acclaimed directors, writers, screenwriters, actors. Over the years Cinelibri has been attended by numerous significant creators in the field of cinema and literature, such as Jiří Menzel, Ian McEwan, Volker Schlöndorff, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Radu Mihăileanu, Sergio Castellitto, Margaret Mazzantini, David Grossman, Daniele Luchetti, Daniel Kehlmann and many others.
Over 75 premiere films will be presented at Cinelibri 2025 this fall immediately after triumphing at the most prestigious film forums in the world – Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Locarno, San Sebastian, etc. Twelve of the screenings have been selected in the festival’s main competition – for a feature film based on literary work – and will be evaluated by an International jury with president Claes Bang.
Danish actor Claes Bang is among the brightest stars of contemporary European cinema; he also has achievements in the fields of theater and TV productions. He gained fame worldwide for his participation in the brilliant satire The Square by director Ruben Östlund, which was awarded the Palme d’Or and dozens of other awards, including an Oscar nomination. Bang won the European Film Award for his role as the art museum curator Christian. In Bulgaria, the actor is also known for the literary adaptations The Master and Margarita (2024), Bonjour, Tristesse (2024), The Last Vermeer (2019), all three of which were in the Cinelibri program. In addition to the key “role” of Jury president, Bang will present his latest film in Sofia – the historical drama The Grand Arch, a work directed by Stéphane Demoustier. Nominated in the “Un Certain Regard” category at the Cannes Film Festival, the film focuses on the most ambitious project of the era of President François Mitterrand – the Grand Arch in the Paris district of La Défense. Floating in his own waters, Bang, as the Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen, delivers another remarkable performance.
Sergey Loznitsa is a highly gifted and influential Ukrainian director, born in Belarus. He has gained international recognition thanks to his sharp social and political sensitivity, reflected in over 20 documentaries, including Maidan, Victory Day, State Funeral, Babi Yar. Context, The Invasion. No less successful and critically acclaimed are his feature films – In the Fog, A Gentle Creature, Donbass – crowned with awards from festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Karlovy Vary and others. Two Prosecutors (2025), an adaptation of the story of political prisoner Georgy Demidov, a survivor of the repressive structure Gulag, is a chilling allegory of the ruthless totalitarian machine and the ineradicable evil of bureaucracy. The film will be shown in Sofia after its premiere in Cannes, where it was awarded the “François Challet” award. Loznitsa will also present at Cinelibri one of his experimental documentary works – A Natural History of Destruction. Shockingly topical, based on an essay by W. G. Sebald, the film has been nominated for the “Golden Eye” award at the Cannes Film Festival and has received a number of other awards.
French producer Aton Soumache, known for his award-winning animated films, BAFTA and Cesar winner for the animated film The Little Prince (2016), will present his latest film in Sofia, a tribute to the renowned playwright, writer and director Marcel Pagnol. The jury of the competition for the best feature film based on a book also includes the charismatic Greek actress Tonia Sotiropoulou (007 Coordinates: Skyfall). The Bulgarian representative in the international jury is the tireless Katya Trichkova, one of the most respected local producers. Her name is associated with the socially engaged films of director Stefan Komandarev, as well as with the short co-production The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, which has been showered with awards, including the Palme d’Or, the Cesar and the European Film Academy Award.
The opening ceremony of Cinelibri 2025 will take place on October 10 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture and will be followed with a pre-premiere screening of a long-awaited book-to-film adaptation which is to be announced soon. The award ceremony is the other glamorous event within the festival – it will take place on October 24, again in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture, in the presence of jury teams of two competitions – best feature film and best documentary. In their roles as arbitrators of the first one, the artists listed above will personally present the awards to the directors of the films, distinguished as the most skillful adaptations for the big screen.
For the eleventh time in a row, the audience, who appreciates visionary cinema and the impactful cinematic versions of literary works, will besiege the halls of the festival in Sofia and six other Bulgarian cities. The selected film productions will have festival screenings in Bulgaria between October 10 and November 3, and at least ten of them will be distributed after the end of Cinelibri 2025. In addition to the already established competitions for full-length feature films, short films and documentaries, a generous parallel program is planned, which includes sections of animated films, children’s movies, film classics, gala evenings of cultures, current discussions and educational events, the second edition of the International Forum of Literary Adaptations BOB (Based-on-Books).