site.btaBTA Plans to Devote Entire Issue of Its "LIK" Magazine to Next Edition of CineLibri Film Festival

The LIK magazine for literature, art and culture, published monthly by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), can devote one of its upcoming issues entirely to the next (10th) edition of the CineLibri International Book and Movie Festival, BTA Director-General Kiril Valchev suggested on Friday. The idea was accepted and supported by CineLibri Founder and President Jacqueline Wagenstein.

American actor William Baldwin, who is in Bulgaria to head the jury of the 9th CineLibri Festival (October 6-29), told a BTA-hosted news conference in Sofia that he has never been to Sofia before but has worked a lot in the region lately. He has visited the Balkans quite often since the end of the COVID pandemic. "I like working here, I like the people, the history, the culture, the food," the star of Backdraft (1991) and Sliver (1993) said. He described the competition section of this year's CineLibri as incredible. He has already seen several films which he finds remarkable.

Other members of the jury also spoke at the news conference:

Canadian casting director and producer Bruno Rosato said it is fascinating how many people in this region, especially Sofia, value cinema, theatre and art. Rosato is impressed that a small country like Bulgaria has such prominent presence in the arts. CineLibri is a world-class festival, he said, noting that he has seen film festivals in 30 countries and this one is definitely one of the best organized.

Bulgarian actor Ivan Barnev said cinema is not a sport and he has always disliked its competitive side. He feels that the Bulgarian film Plague is performing decently at the festival. Barnev also commented: "We the members of the jury are very different, there are actors, a director, a casting director, we belong to different worlds. I said to myself, we will quarrel all the time when we get together. It turned out that, well, a good film is a good film."

Bulgarian-French director and actress Lea Todorov said she is honoured to be in Sofia, not just as the daughter of internationally renowned philosopher and literary historian Tzvetan Todorov but also as herself, a filmmaker. Born into a family of writers, Lea Todorov is pleased to watch film adaptations of literary works, which is what CineLibri is all about. "It was very exciting to see how the filmmakers turned words into images," she said. The jury had a long discussion about the films, because they were very different, she added.

Spanish actress Carla Nieto was thrilled to hear how the Bulgarian language sounds. A native of Catalonia, she said Bulgarian reminds her of Catalan. Nieto said Bulgaria and its capital Sofia are great, and she is honoured to be a part of this international jury. "We have seen 10 films in the competition section, and all of them are very good," she said.