Isabelle Huppert in Villa Amalia
The eighth edition of the Golden Linden International Film Festival 2021 presented its awards at a stylish ceremony, which took place on June 3 at the State Opera – Stara Zagora – Bulgaria. The prestigious international jury chaired by Prof. Bozhidar Manov bestowed prizes on the selected films in the categories of best film, best male role, best female role, best director, as well as “The award of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers”.
The award for best film was given to the film “The Ties” (2020) directed by Daniele Luchetti, distributed in Bulgaria by CineLibri Ltd. The Golden Linden statuette was presented by the legendary Polish director Filip Bajon, and on behalf of the creators of the Italian film it was received by the festival director Magdalena Ralcheva. “The film seems to deal with the banalities of everyday life, but with the unfolding of the plot, it poses the problems of at least two generations of our time, which it considers in a very elegant way”, the chairman of the jury said.
The award of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers was bestowed on the Finnish film Helene (2020), which also received a statuette “The Golden Linden” for best female role of the actress Laura Birn. Directed by Antti Jokinen, the film tells the story of the renowned Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck, and the love affair between her and the younger art critic Einar Reuter. The prize for best director was awarded to the Bulgarian film “Fear” (2020) directed by Ivaylo Hristov.
“The selection of the festival program really shows a very high quality, ambitious and productive work. These 40 films from 16 European countries are remarkable achievement for a festival that is still at an early age”, said in his speech at the closing of the festival Prof. Bozhidar Manov. “I allow myself to think that we have achieved objectivity in the evaluation of the films, because we had complete unanimity. It is usually not easy to achieve such unanimity, but in this case it was easy, because of the indisputable qualities of the awarded films.“
The Bulgarian premiere of the Italian drama “The Ties”(original title: Lacci) directed by Daniele Luchetti and based on the acclaimed novel by Domenico Starnone, took place within the sixth edition of CineLibri IFF in 2020. The film was part of the competition program and received appreciation by both the jury and fans of contemporary Italian cinema, inspired by literary works.