News

Kinomania 2008 has arrived. Drawing in spectators with an opening ceremony screening of Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese's 2008 docu about the Rolling Stones, at Sofia's NDK (National Palace of Culture) on November 7, the film festival's entire programme promises to enthral.

Featured in the 22nd year of the festival will be the cinema of countries like France, Great Britain, Italy, the United States and Russia (as part of the Year of Russia in Bulgaria). There will also be special programmes dedicated to Asian, documentary, animation and tango films.

The festival, which continues until December 3, is being held in the Sofia movie halls Lumière, Dom na Kinoto, Odeon, Euro-Bulgarian Cinema and hall 1 of NDK, and in Plovdiv at Lucky Cinema. All films have Bulgarian and English subtitles.

From the United Kingdom, films to be shown include Incendiary by Sharon Maguire, which looks at how a woman continues her life after her husband and son are killed in a terrorist attack 9November 16, 7.30pm, Euro Cinema; November 20, 9pm, Lumière; November 23, 5pm, Dom na Kinoto); Becoming Jane, a biographical portrait of Miss Austen before fame hit, directed by Julian Jarrold (November 8, 7.30pm, Odeon; November 16, 6.30pm, Dom na Kinoto; November 18, NDK hall 1, 6.30pm); This is England, Shane Meadows' drama of a young boy who befriends skinheads (November 21, 9pm, Dom na Kinoto; November 26, 9pm, Lumière; December 2, 7.30pm, Euro Cinema); and David Lean's 1955 classic, Summertime, in which a solitary American lady finds... love in Venice (November 8, 2pm, Dom na Kinoto; November 9, 2.30pm, Lumière; November 13, 7.30pm, Odeon).

Also worth checking out are the Coen Brothers' film Burn After Reading (2008), which looks at the fate of a CIA disk after two fitness instructors find it (November 8, 9.15pm, Dom na Kinoto; November 15, NDK hall 1, 8.30pm); Lubov morkov/Любовь-Морковь, which means “love carrot” in Russian, is a comedy by Aleksandr Strizhenov (2007) that addresses a couple's lack of love and their “treatment” by a famous doctor; and El Ultimo aplauso, German Kral's 2008 documentary about a group of tango singers' final performance (November 15, 6pm, Odeon; November 16, 5pm, Lumière; November 20, 7pm, Dom na Kinoto).

There are many more films, of course, that deserve attention; watch The Sofia Echo for more details.

Cinemas in Sofia
NDK hall 1: 1 Bulgaria Sq, tel: 02/ 916 63 69
Lumière: 1 Bulgaria Sq (behind NDK), tel: 02/ 916 63 69
Dom na Kinoto: 37 Ekzarh Yosif Str, tel: 02/ 980 78 38
Odeon: 1 Patriarh Evtimii Blvd, tel: 02/ 989 24 68
Euro Cinema: 17 Alexander Stamboliiski Blvd, tel: 02/ 980 41 61, 988 00 84