Rotterdam - Berlin - Cannes - Tribeca -
Karlovy Vary - Locarno - Venice - San Sebastián
Here's the next festival that we will be attending
Here’s our Line-Up
Crystal Globe Competition
World Premier
Black Money for White Nights - (Cherni pari za beli noshti)
by Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov
Cast: Tanya Shahova, Ivan Savov, Margita Gosheva,
Ivan Barnev, Sibila Petrova
Bulgaria, Greece - 94’ - 2025
Synopsis
Marina (65), a maternity nurse, and her husband Gosha (68), a railway dispatcher, have spent years collecting small bribes to afford their dream trip to St. Petersburg and witness the White Nights. When Russia invades Ukraine and the travel agency vanishes with their savings, their dream — and the illusion of control — collapses. As Gosha ends up in hospital, beaten while trying to recover the money, long-buried betrayals surface, forcing the couple to confront the lies their life was built on and to search, among the ruins
Good to know
In 2012, the pair co-wrote and co-directed the short film Jump, which was nominated forBest Short Film at the European Film Awardsand won the Grand Prixat the Brussels Short Film Festival as well as Best Filmat the Bulgarian Film Academy Awards in 2013.
Their debut feature film The Lesson (2014) received international recognition at numerous film festivals around the world, including festivals Toronto, San Sebastián, Warsaw,Tokyo, Thessaloniki, Gothenburg, Sofia and many others, and is the most awarded Bulgarian film of all.
The second film from the trilogy, Glory, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival was positively received by critics. Glorywon awards at many international film festivals and was selected as the Bulgarian entriy for the Best International Feature Filmat the90th Academy Awards.
Before the last film of the trilogy, the pair directed 2019's The Father and won the Crystal Globe Award for Best Film at KVIFF.The Fatherwаs selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.
The third film of their "newspaper clippings" trilogy (after The Lessonand Glory) is the 2024 comedy Triumph.
Additionnal info
Supported by Bulgarian National Film Center and Eurimages
Producer Konstantina Stavrianou, Irini Vougiokalou, Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Production Abraxas Film
Coproduction Graal Films, Bulgarian National Television, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
ERT, Greek Film Center.
Sales Agent - Cercamon - sebastien@cercamon.biz
Screenings
Mon 06.07 - 08:30 - Congress Hall - Press & Industry Screening
Mon 06.07 - 17:00 - Grand Hall- Official (intro)
Tue 07.07 - 10:00 - Pupp Official- (Intro + Q&A)
Wed 08.07 - 16:00 - Lazne III - Official
Thu 09.07 - 13:00 - Congress Hall - Official
Press Material
Interviews
On Tuesday 7th afternoon
Crystal Globe Competition
World Premier
Hijamat
by Nader Saeivar
Cast: Nicolette Krebitz, Moritz Bleibtreu, Nastassja Kinski, Kida Khodr,
Ramadan, Jael Cem Ilhan, Aziz Capkurt
Germany - 103’- 2026
Logline
When Kerem's secret relationship with a man is exposed, shockwaves ripple through his deeply religious Muslim's family, igniting a conflict between faith, identity and love. As his brother struggles to protect him, long- buried secrets emerge, threatening to tear the family apart.
Good to know
Nader Seivar is a prominent Iranian filmmaker celebrated for his acclaimed collaborations with director Jafar Panahi (who is also the producer of this film). In 2018 he won with 3 Facesin Cannes Best Screenplay which was co-written with Jafar Panahi. In 2020 Namo, his feature directorial debutpremiered at Berlin Film Festival. In 2024 he won the Audience Award at the Venice Filmfestival with The Witness.
Additional Info
Producers: Jafar Panahi, Said Nur Akkuş (ArtHood Films), Murat Şeker (sugarworks)
Co-Producers: Ufuk Genc (Lightburst Pictures GmbH), Jan-Peter Jachtmann (JPJ Film
Productions)
Supported by: Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB), Deutsche Filmförderfonds (DFFF)
Sales agent - ArtHood Entertainment - novelli@arthoodentertainment.com
Screenings
Wed 08.07 - 08:30 - Congress Hall - Press & Industry Screening
Wed 08.07 - 20:00 - Grand Hall - Official (Intro)
Thu 09.07 - 13:00 - Pupp Cinema - Official (Intro + Q&A)
Fri 10.07 - 19:00 - Lazne III - Official
Sat 11.07 - 08:30 - Congress Hall - Official
Press Material
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QIuASHu4Ho8gIMo8fCsrg8IO0w_ly65j
Interviews
On Thursday 9th late afternoon
Crystal Globe Competition
World Premier
The Lion at My Back
by Tonia Mishiali
Cast: Sokhna Diallo, Elena Kallinikou, Prokopis Agathocleous, Herodotos Miltiadous
Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece - 106’- 2026
Synopsis
Mariama, a teenage Senegalese asylum seeker, and Stella, a Cypriot recovering drug addict, are striving to rebuild their lives. When their paths first cross they use each other, but their shared struggle for survival, in a world that failed them both, sparks an unexpected mother-daughter bond. Together, they redefine the true meaning of love and family, in a heartwarming tale of sacrifice, female solidarity and empowerment.
Good to know
Tonia has had 23 wins & 77 nominations with her earlier shortfilms and features.
Pfasi/Pausehad the most wins like Best Film (Golden Pyramid) and Best Director at Cairo Film Festival in 2018, Fipresci and ERT prize at Thessaloniki Film Festival, Best Film at Transylvania Film Festival and Grand Prize at Brussels International Independent Film Festival but it all started in Karlovy Vary where it had it's Wordpremiere in 2018
Tonia is the director but she is also producer.
The Lion at my back is the second in a trilogy after Pause.
Additional Info
Producedby Bark Like a Cat Films.
Co-produced by Iris Productions and Avalon Films
With the support of
Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture - Department of Contemporary Culture Film Fund Luxembourg, Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center (Co-Production Window International Co-Production Support Program) Greece 2.0 National Recovery and Resilience Plan Funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEu - Creative Europe MEDIA
Sales agent - The Yellow Affair -Steven@yellowaffair.com
Screenings
Mon 06.07 - 10:30 - Congress Hall - Press & Industry Screening
Mon 06.07 - 19:30 - Grand Hall - Official (intro)
Tue 07.07 - 13:00 - Pupp Official - (Intro + Q&A)
Wed 08.07 - 19:00 - Lazne III - Official
Thu 09.07 - 16:00 - Congress Hall - Official
Press Material
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vu8V-TXCxkTDwFmpLvMoO6EqBm9k1WQ5?usp=share_link
Interviews
Wednesday 8th of Julyduring lunchtime
Proxima Competition
World Premier
Paris Paris
by Isabelle Tollenaere
Cast: Yi-En Chen, Mahmoud Beshtawi, David Mutamba
Belgium - 78 mins - 2026
Synopsis
In an evicted building in the City of Lights, Yi-En and Junior — who left China and the DRC behind — try to turn their squatted apartment into a home. One day, they’re joined by Hamzah, Yi-En’s Palestinian classmate, who carries his own sense of exile. The trio soon shares everything, from scarce belongings and jokes about the future to memories of the past. But while their odd family grows — a stranded cat here, a rescued fish there— their carefully constructed world grows vulnerable to outside forces, some much bigger than themselves. In this lively milieu, time, space and personal histories overlap, offering a political allegory on displacement and the meaning of home. One formed not through the language of social realism, but a cinema of warmth, visual wit and deadpan humour.
Good to know
Isabelle Tollenaere is a Belgian filmmaker making hybrid short and feature length films that are simultaneously poetic, political, and playful. Her practice focuses on the interplay between the rapid transformation of our physical world and the human experience of time and memory. Guided by a fascination with places that vanish or, conversely, are artificially replicated, she looks at how human beings seek their way amidst social and historical shifts. Rather than focusing on the event itself, she explores its resonance within the landscape and the human interior. In doing so, she is fascinated by the erratic nature of memory: how we constantly rearrange, colour, or lose fragments of the past within the folds of time.
Her films have been widely presented and awarded, at the Venice, Berlinale Forum (Caligari Film Prize 2020), IFFR (Fipresci award 2015), Centre Pompidou, Viennale, Visions Du Réel, FID Marseille, IDFA, CPH:DOX, IndieLisboa (Special Jury Prize 2020), a.o.
PARIS PARIS is her first scripted feature film.
Additional Info
Production Company - Menuetto
Producer - Bo de Group, Hans Everaert
Sales Agent - Square Eyes - errika@squareeyesfilm.com
Screenings
Mon 06.07 - 18:00 - Cinema C - Press & Industry Screening
Tue 07.07 - 16:00 - KV Theatre - Official (Intro)
Wed 08.07 - 12:00 - Cas Cinema - Official (intro+Q&A)
Thu 09.07 - 10:00 - Lazne III - Official
Fri 10.07 - 11:30 - Cinema B - Official
Press Material
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ywcLUqNptrcPytl0rgsPVsmfVQC1jEWg?usp=sharing
Interviews
Wednesday 8th late afternoon
Proxima Competition
World Premier
A Whole Person Almost - (Enas olokliros anthropos schedon)
by Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis
Cast: Anastasis Georgoulas,Flomaria Papadaki
Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania - 111 mins - 2025
Synopsis
Ilias, a young man in debt, crosses the sea to a remote island hoping to secure the inheritance of his late and estranged father, a doctor. He soon discovers that no will exists and worse still, he is struck by a mysterious numbness in his limbs. Unwilling to return empty-handed to his creditors, Ilias is confined to the rental rooms where his father once lived and confronts a small community of locals centered around Karina, the owner of the rentals and his father's former lover, and Kalliopi a woman with dreams of fleeing the island, who works there. At the same time inexplicable illnesses begin to spread, affecting not only him but others as well. Tapping into the memory of a father and a live unbeknownst to him, and with the troubles that brought him to the island in the first place, still unresolved. Ilias and Kalliopi move closer to one another. Against all odds, love grows.
Good to know
Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis is a Greek-German filmmaker. Working across film, installation and branded content, his films All the Fires the Fire, Astrometal,Unbuilt Light and Il1have screened at festivals and venues including Venice, Locarno, Sarajevo, Clermont-Ferrand, Forum des Images and Centre Pompidou.
Additional Info
Produced by Horsefly Films
Co-Produced by Red Carpet, Wanderlust, Felony Film, Tangaj Production and ZDF/Das Kleine Fernsehspiel & ARTE, ERT, Onassis Culture, Faliro House Productions, Panta Rhei
Supported by Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center, Bulgarian National Film Center, Department of Contemporary Culture - Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture, Creative Europe - Media
Co-funded by the European Union
Screenings
Sat 04.07 - 21:00 - Cinema C - Press & Industry Screening
Sun 05.07 - 19:00 - KV Theatre - Official (Intro)
Mon 06.07 - 15:00 - Cas Cinema - Official (Intro + Q&A)
Tue 07.07 - 13:00 - Lazne III - Official
Wed 08.07 - 14:00 - Cinema B - Official
Press Material
Interviews
Monday 6thduring lunchtime