site.btaUPDATED Love is Folly Film Festival Kicks Off, Italian Actor Franco Nero Honoured for His Contribution to World Cinema

Italian actor Franco Nero was awarded the Varna Mayor’s badge of honour with ribbon. The award was presented to him by Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev before the opening of the 32nd edition of the Love is Folly international film festival which started on Friday in the coastal city.

Addressing the award ceremony, Kotsev said that Nero was visiting Varna for the first time. The Mayor of Varna also noted that, that Love is Folly is the oldest film festival in Bulgaria and thanked the organizers for their efforts.

Franco Nero said that the award means that he has done a lot in his life and career. He added that he accepts it with great pleasure, as it is symbolyzes the recognition of his work.

Later on Friday, Nero received the festival’s lifetime achievement award for his contribution to world cinema. The festival’s director, Alexander Grozev, told the audience that the Italian actor has over 250 roles under his belt and is expected to star in a Bulgarian film next year.

Nero thanked for the award and said that he feels like a citizen of the world. He compared cinema to a big city inhabited by people of different nationalities and races. Nero said that cinema is freedom and has given him the opportunity to travel the world. Nero pointed out that he has been to more than 100 countries and played characters of more than 30 nationalities. The actor noted that cinema has allowed him to meet kings and queens, princesses, presidents, but also to dine with common people whom he described as much wiser.

The 82-year-old said he is almost halfway through his career and he keeps getting inundated with offers from all over the world.

At 5 p.m. on Saturday, at the Festival and Congress Centre in Varna, Nero will meet with fans before the screening of his latest film Everlasting Days directed by Simone Petralia, also starring Anna Galiena, Maria de Medeiros, Marco Rossetti.

Love is Folly is organized by the Kinofest company. As usual, a total of dozen titles will compete in the film festival, with French and Italian titles predominating. There is also one Bulgarian-Ukrainian co-production.

The programme includes There Is Still Tomorrow (Italy), The End of the River (Bulgaria), Feast of Fire (Poland), Sons (Denmark, Sweden, France), My Wonderful Stranger (Norway, France, Sweden), From Hilde, with Love (Germany), My Favourite Cake (Iran, France, Sweden, Germany), Love Boat (France), Out of Season (France), Familiar (France, Romania), Adios Buenos Aires (Argentina), Some Birds (Hungary).

The official programme ends on August 30 with the film Bolero.

The films in the competition will be judged by a three-member international jury. Jury chair is director and producer Momchil Karamitev, who will work alongside  directors Ahmet Boyacioglu from Turkiye and Isti Madarasz from Hungary. Madarasz won the award of the Union of Bulgarian Film Makers in the 2023 edition of the festival.