Jury

KAMEN KALEV – chairman
Director/producer/writer KAMEN KALEV graduated from La Fémis, Paris, in 2002. His debut feature film Eastern Plays (2009) was selected for the 41st Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and was acclaimed by critics and audiences from Paris to Tokyo as an honest, beautiful and rarely truthful film. It brought him the Best Film Award of the Tokyo IFF, the Grand Prix du Jury of the Angers Film Festival, the Golden Rose Award in Varna, among many others. His much anticipated sophomore film – twisted and triply drama The Island (2011) – also premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, came as a shock, splitting viewers and critics into heated love -it-or-hate-it disputes, and establishing Kamen Kalev as a daring young filmmaker pushing his own boundaries to the point of no return. His My Dear Night (2014) – the opening short of The Bridges of Sarajevo omnibus (Official Selection of the Cannes IFF 2014) – put his name among the ranks of Jean-Luc Godard, Sergei Loznitsa, Ursula Meier. His third feature Face Down (2015) was selected to be the front line movie at the International Day of Human Trafficking in Bern, brought him Best Director Award of the Golden Rose Festival and many others.

STEFAN IVANOV  was born and raised in Bulgaria. A graduate of NATFA, Sofia in 1982, he worked several years in his homeland before completing his studies at La Fémis (École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l’Image et du Son), Paris in 1990, and Berlin (Nipkow Program, 1995).

Stefan Ivanov has extensive experience as a cinematographer. His credits for over two decades include feature films, TV movies, documentaries and commercials. He worked in several countries of Eastern Europe and West and in North America. He also co-directed the documentaries Black in Color (1985), RollBall (1986), and Trafficking Cinderella (1998). In 1996, filmmaker Raoul Ruiz assigned him the cinematography of Genealogy of a Crime, starring Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli and winning the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival in 1997. In 1998, he collaborated with Jean Rodrigue at Full Blast (Best Screenplay. Best Director at the Atlantic Film Festival) and working then for several other Canadian productions such as Danny in the Sky, Marion Bridge (Best First Feature Film, Toronto IFF 2002) and A Problem with Fear for which he was Nominated for Best Cinematography Genie Awards 2004. Perfectly integrated in his adopted country, Stefan still retains a close link with Bulgaria, where he still works regularly. His documentary The Road Ahead has a sensitive eye on Gypsies while Moon Lake articulates a very personal reflection on the theme of identity. He is also the DoP of The File Petrov by Gueorgui Balabanov.

PETER DUNDAKOV is a composer, a 2005 graduate of the Rotterdam Conservatory from the courses of Paul M. van Brugge. Presently, he works in the fields of contemporary classical and jazz music, participating in international projects in the Netherlands, Lithuania, Spain and Austria. His pieces have been performed and recorded by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR); the Big Band of BNR; Sofia Soloists String Quartet; choir The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices; Studio Dan ensemble, Vienna; Anatoly Krustev, etc. He composed music for a number of films such as Corridor No. 8, Anna Blume, Father, Love & Engineering, Once upon a Dream, etc., selected and awarded at such important film festivals as these held in Berlin; Rotterdam; Tribeca, New York; Leipzig; Karlovy Vary, etc., as well as music for a number of stagings and dance performances. He was awarded Maestro Dimiter Vulchev Prize and Icarus ‘09 и Icarus ‘14 prizes for his music for theatrical productions.

TEODORA DUHOVNIKOVA studied at NATFA, in Prof. Snezhina Tankovska and Andrey Batashov’s classes. Played for the companies of Sofia-based theatres such as Sofia, Tears and Laughter and 199 and since 2005 is a member of the company of the National Theatre, Sofia, under the directorship of such prominent directors as Yavor Gardev, Marius Kurkinsky, Alexander Morfov, Margarita Mladenova, Desislava Shpatova, Yuri Botusov, etc.

In 2012, she won an Askeer for her Marilyn in McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane, put up by Yavor Gardev. She won the lead female role (The Sister) award in Bina Haralampieva’s The Raven at the Festival of Bulgarian Drama, 2013; and in 2015 for her role of Sarah in Vazov’s Toward the Abyss staged again by Bina Haralampieva. Best Dramatic Actress at Golden Diaphragm Film and TV Awards for Bozhura (The Tree of Life, TV show).

She scooped twice the Women of the Year Award (2011, 2013). Played for TV productions of BBC and RAI 1, in a number of international and national movies and TV shows such as Under Cover, Forecast, Corpse Collector, etc. She is now starred in Ilian Djevelecov’s new movie, The Omnipresent.

BORISLAV KOLEV is a Bulgarian journalist, film critic, screenwriter and director. He published the book Bitter Cinema. His directorial credits include the movies Stoichkov, Salto Mortale, Christmas, The Eye of the Minotaur.