The 21st edition of Sofia Meetings has drawn to a close and handed out its awards last week, and it was a Bulgarian feature-film project that won the top prize. This year’s edition ran between 20 and 24 March, when the renowned industry event presented 27 film and five TV projects at various stages of development. Meanwhile, its work-in-progress section comprised 27 features.

The Best Pitching Award, handed out by Cinelab Romania (comprising post-production lab services equal to €10,000 and €5,000 in services from Kodak Romania), was won by the debut film project Barefoot Bull (Bulgaria) by Petar Krumov. Krumov’s short Hunger has competed internationally, including at Clermont-Ferrand. Rossitsa Valkanova serves as the project’s producer for Klas Film.

The UNIQA Award for Best Bulgarian or Regional Project went to Death Is for the Living, directed by Kristiyan Bozov, and produced by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov for Abraxas Film. The award amounts to €1,000 and offers a discount on the insurance services provided for film production.

CHAOS presented its CHAOS VFX Award, offering the opportunity to use its technological support, to Sydney Smile Future Perfect by Greek director Gregoris Rentis, and producers Mando Stathi and Myrto Stathi, of BYRD. The European Capital of Culture in 2025 (Nova Gorica/Gorizia) sponsored this year’s GO – RESIDENCES Award, which invites screenwriters and directors to the town of Gorica for both the development of the script and the development of the project that will later be produced in the regions of Slovenia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The prize, which amounts to €5,000 and includes two visits to the residences for ten days, was won by In the Meantime, directed and produced by Gordon Matic (Serbia), with fellow producers Ales Pavlin and Riccardo Di Pasquelle, of Re-Kreativno dud, also on board.

This year’s Young Producer Award – YAPIMLAB, which comes with a week’s project consultancy in Istanbul worth €5,000, was given to Anna Moto Szijártó, of Kinomoto Kft, the producer of the project Lady Sunshine by Hungarian director Anna Korom.

Additionally, the Producers Network (Cannes Market) Award will grant Jakub Viktorín, of nutprodukcia sro, the producer of Ballerina Shoes by director Teodor Kuhn, an accreditation for the Producers Network at the 2024 Cannes Marché du Film, while the EWA BG Award – presented to the best project directed or produced by a female filmmaker – went to the producers of The Miracle Number Three, Alicja Gancarz and Magdalena Zimecka (ORKA), a project hailing from Poland, helmed by Grzegorz Jaroszuk.

Still to be announced are the winners of a scholarship from the Mediterranean Film Institute for participation in the MFI Script 2 Film Workshops, and the selection of one project that will be given the opportunity to be presented at Agora Crossroads in Thessaloniki.

The full list of award-winning projects is as follows:

Cinelab Romania Award
Barefoot Bull – Petar Krumov (Bulgaria)
Producer: Rossitsa Valkanova (Klas Film)

UNIQA Award
Death Is for the Living – Kristiyan Bozov (Bulgaria)
Producers: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov (Abraxas Film)

Chaos VFX Award
Sydney Smile Future Perfect – Gregoris Rentis (Greece)
Producers: Mando Stathi, Myrto Stathi (BYRD)

Go – Residences Award
In the Meantime – Gordon Matic (Serbia)
Producers: Gordan Matic, Ales Pavlin, Riccardo Di Pasquelle (Re-Kreativno dud)

Producers Network (Cannes Market) Award
Ballerina Shoes – Teodor Kuhn (Slovakia)
Producer: Jakub Viktorín (nutprodukcia sro)

YAPIMLAB Young Producer Award
Lady Sunshine – Anna Korom (Hungary)
Producer: Anna Moto Szijártó (Kinomoto Kft)

EWA BG Award
The Miracle Number Three – Grzegorz Jaroszuk (Poland)
Producers: Alicja Gancarz, Magdalena Zimecka (ORKA)

“Story Tricks” Story Bundle Award
Heartbeat – Sergej Waldrat (Germany/Azerbaijan/Canada)
Producer: Samaya Hillenbrand (Doghouse filmproductions), Mew Movies, Quiet Revolution Pictures

Elbur Film Award
Report on the Miracles of the Earth – Carlos Conceição (Portugal/Bulgaria/Angola)
Producers: João Matos, Kamen Velkovsky (Terratreme, Alaz Film, Mirabilis)