site.bta"Blaga’s Lessons" Wins Grand Jury Prize at Rome Film Festival

Stephan Komandarev’s “Blaga’s Lessons” received the Grand Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival which took place October 18-29.  

The jury was chaired by Mexican actor and director Gael Garcia Bernal.

The prize was received at a ceremony at the Auditorium Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone by writer Simeon Ventsislavov. Director Stephan Komandarev is in Los Angeles, where his is presenting the film which is the Bulgarian nomination for the Academy Awards.

Ventsislavov said that Rome and Italy have always been synonymous with cinema for him and thanked on behalf of the production for the prize.

The Bulgarian nomination for the Academy Award competed with another 16 films in the festival’s main programme. The jury awarded the Best Film Award to “Pedagio” by Carolina Markowicz.

The Best Director Award went to Joachim Lafosse for "Un silence". The Monica Vitti Award (Best Actress) went to Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher for her role in "Mi Fanno Male i Capelli", and the Vittorio Gassman Award went to Herbert Nordrum for his role in "Hypnosen".

“Blaga’s Lessons” won three awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July - the Crystal Globe Grand Prix, the Best Actress Award and the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

At the beginning of September a national jury selected Komandarev’s film for the Bulgarian nomination for the 96th Academy Awards.