The ninth edition of the Golden Linden International Film Festival is already in history. The closing ceremony in the hall of the State Opera – Stara Zagora gathered a record number of spectators compared to previous editions of the film forum.

The Golden Linden Award for Best Picture this year was bestowed upon Italian director Nanni Moretti for his film “Three Floors”. It was chosen by the jury “because of the delicate study of the best and the worst that is inside us,” explained Serbian director Stevan Filipović when announcing the winner.

“Three Floors” is an exciting screen interpretation of the eponymous bestseller by Israeli writer Eshkol Nevo. The main roles are played by Riccardo Scamarcio, Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher, Adriano Giannini, Elena Lietti, Nanni Moretti himself. The Bulgarian premiere of the film took place within CineLibri 2021, after which it was distributed in selected cinemas in the capital and the country. “Three Floors” has: David di Donatello 2022 nomination for best adapted screenplay; Golden Palm nomination 2021 from the Cannes Film Festival;  nomination for best film from the European Film Festival in Seville; Golden Ciak nomination for best film and direction.

The chairman of the jury Prof. Anri Kulev presented the statuette to the director of the festival Magdalena Ralcheva, who undertook to present it to the winners.

“For the second year in a row, the award for best film goes to a film from Italy, which in itself speaks volumes about how strong Italian cinema is today,” said Magdalena Ralcheva.

She once again thanked the Municipality of Stara Zagora for its unreserved support and the incredible audience, without which this festival would not make sense.

Actor Iossif Surchadzhiev was awarded the prize of Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers for his roles in the two Bulgarian films in the competition program – “January” directed by Andrey Paounov, and “Women Do Cry” directed by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova.