site.btaLabyrinth of Sofia Wins Documentary Film Category at Zagreb TourFilm Festival 2025

The Labyrinth of Sofia won first place in the Documentary Film category at the 14th International Zagreb TourFilm Festival 2025. The Bulgarian film was selected from among more than 80 international titles, the 8pm Advertising Services PR Studio team announced on Sunday. The Zagreb TourFilm Festival 2025 was held from October 15 to 18. 

The film by director Kaloyan Nikolov and cinematographer Petar Draganov tells the story of the visit of Japanese illustrators IC4DESIGN to Bulgaria’s capital in 2022. Their most recognizable project, not only in Bulgaria, is the Pierre the Maze Detective series of books. Three years ago, because of these books, Nickolay Rashkov from EuroSpeed contacted the illustrators to create a detailed map of the capital city. 

The Labyrinth of Sofia follows Hiro Kamigaki and his creative group IC4DESIGN as they draw inspiration from the streets of Sofia and weave local culture and folklore into their work.

"Created by an incredibly dedicated and talented team, this film is a fascinating and different project that we have had the honour of working on over the past few years. It means a lot to me that it has received the recognition it deserves," cinematographer and producer Petar Draganov says.

"Working with the Japanese illustrators from IC4DESIGN on The Labyrinth of Sofia was a truly remarkable experience. Despite cultural and language differences, we managed to create something special together, proof that art is truly a universal language. I am glad that we managed not to get lost in translation and to capture the true essence of their vision and creativity," director and producer Kaloyan Nikolov said.

The tourism film festival in Zagreb rewards films and audiovisual productions that promote tourism, such as tourist destinations: cities, regions, or countries; adventure tourism; extreme sports; sports tourism: skiing, hiking, biking; nautical tourism; hotels and resorts; people, culture and tradition; religious tourism; rural tourism; events, fairs and congress. The festival is a member of CIFFT – Comité International des Festivals du Film Touristique.

"We are very happy that our project with IC4DESIGN continues to excite audiences, foreign ones at that. In addition to the film, we also managed to organize an exhibition at the National Gallery with the Japanese team, which was very well received and attended. We are negotiating to hold a second exhibition in the coming months," Nickolay Rashkov from EuroSpeed said.

The film will soon be screened in Bulgaria, the announcement said.