Jury
Prof. Mikhail Meltev / PRESIDENT
Prof. Mikhail Meltev is a film director. He has worked as a director, executive director of the Bulgarian National Television, Professor in Film Production at New Bulgarian University and National Academy for Film and Theater Arts, Sofia. He has been President of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers (UBFM), President of Filmautor, Bulgarian Society for collective management of authors` and producers` rights on audiovisual works. Presently, he is Secretary General of the UBFM. Author of many publications in the field of film and TV production and the books Television Producer, Television as a Cultural Industry, Film and Electronic Media. Meltev has directed over 14 documentaries and 4 feature films.
Veselina Bojilova
Veselina Bojilova was born in Gabrovo, in 1958. She studied at the German Language School in Lovech and TV Journalism at the University of Sofia. She trained TV Journalism at BBC in 1993, UK; at the University of Delaware and CBS Philadelphia, US, in 1995. Lives in Plovdiv since 1981. A decade and a half she was a reporter and editor for TV Centre Plovdiv; made a number of documentaries; editor of Good Morning; head of the newsroom. A co-founder and editor-in-chief of Plovdiv public service broadcaster (1996). Author of the earliest independent programme Good Evening, Plovdiv. In 1996, she founded Media with Human Face Association. Writer/editor of Children Only children’s series. Since 2001 she has been correspondent for BGNESS; editor for a publisher; editor-in-chief of several of the earliest nationwide news websites. In 2004, set up Mothers against Drugs association. She published four non-fiction books. Presently, she contributes reports, analyses, commentaries, photos and a video podcast to Deutsche Welle.
Olga Markova
Olga Markova studied Philology and Journalism; PhD in Film Studies. She is art critic and arts journalist. She published ten books predominantly on film. Some of them, e.g. The Role of Bulgarian Culture in the World Civilization, were translated into English and distributed to Bulgarian embassies and Bulgarian Cultural Centres across the world. She received the Golden Quill Award of the Union and Bulgarian Journalists and a Postament and a Golden Certificate for her brilliant criticism at Golden Knight International Film Festival for her fundamental books The Great Masters of Modern Cinema (2007) and The Last of the Cinema Mohicans (2011). The third book of the trilogy, The Last Remain First came out in 2019. For a decade or so now she has been conducting Master’s courses on Fiction, Film and Visual Culture at the University of Sofia. In her long career she has been an editor at Foreign Service Department, BTA (Bulgarian News Agency); head of Arts Department at Pulse literature and arts weekly for two decades and a half; founder and editor-in-chief of Az-buki national weekly for culture, research and education receiving several awards.
Andrey Tsvetkov
Andrey Tsvetkov (b. 1954) has been working as an animator and art director ever since 1978, initially for the Animated Film Studio, Sofia and since 2020 as a freelance director and producer. He has made over 30 films such as The Little Chap, Aquatoria, Black on White, Fellinicitta, etc., winning Golden Rhyton Award many times, Jameson Short Film Award, Golden Mummer, the award of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers, Best Animation Director of the Bulgarian Film Academy, etc., and prestigious international awards such as UNICEF Award, Annecy IFAF; Grand Prize, Balkanima IFAF, Belgrade; Golden Knight, Moscow; Special Prize, Castelli Animati Festival, Genzano di Roma, etc.
Dimitar Stoyanovich
Dimitar Stoyanovich (b. 1977) graduated from the German Language School in Sofia; majored in History at the University of Sofia. He has been working as a film and TV writer ever since 1999. Screenwriter of more than 30 documentaries such as Inconvenient Dr Krustev and Day of Independence (dir. Hristo Zhivkov), Stefan Stambolov (dir. Milko Lazarov), From the Grateful Descendants (dir. Stefan Komandarev, Special Jury Award for screenplay, Golden Rhyton 2017), etc. Screenwriter of the series The Tree of Life and On the Border (Best Screenplay Award 2015 of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers), of the features The Follower (dir. Luchezar Avramov), A Picture With Yuki (dir. Luchezar Avramov, IFF Sofia 2019; Foreign Language Film Award, Special Audience Award, IFF Castelli Romani 2019; Critics’ Award, Special Mention for Feature Film Debut, Golden Rose 2019; Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, IFF Västeras 2019; Best Feature Film, IFF Ibiza 2020; Best Feature Debut, Golden Knight 2020, etc.). Editor-in-Chief of L’Europeo- Bulgaria magazine.