site.btaLatvian Film "Sisters" Wins Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at Golden Linden Festival

The Latvian drama "Sisters" directed by Linda Olte won three Golden Linden statuettes at the Stara Zagora Film Festival, which ends on Wednesday. The winners of the tenth edition of the Stara Zagora Film Festival were announced at a press conference by the jury.

"Sisters" won the awards for best film, best director and best actress for Emma Skirmante. The film tells the story of two sisters who grew up in an orphanage. The story begins with the hope that the two children will be adopted by an American family and start a new, better life when their biological mother unexpectedly shows up.

The President of the International Jury, film director Adela Peeva, announced the other prizes. The award for Best Actor goes to actor Ivan Barnev for his performance in the Spanish-Bulgarian co-production "Vasil", directed by Avelina Pratt, who also wrote the screenplay.

The jury also announced the award of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers. This year the award is for Ivan Pavlov's film "Spring Equinox", which was also part of the festival's competition programme. "The films we watched during the Golden Linden reflect the anxious pulse of our times", Adela Peeva said, adding that they echo the problems of migration, intolerance of differences, the theme of family values and the existential problems of young people.

"There were other very good films in the competition programme, you should not get the wrong impression that since "Sisters" won three of the awards, the others do not shine with quality," said jury member and film director Stanislav Donchev. He admitted that he was very impressed by the Romanian film "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance" directed by Cristian Mungiu.