site.btaMasquerade Parade, Music Competition, AI-Powered Press Centre Launch Harlequin Festival in Sofia

A masquerade parade, a 27-entry music competition and an AI-powered press centre marked the opening of the 15th International Youth Media Festival Harlequin at Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia on Tuesday.

The festival opened with a masquerade parade accompanied by a brass band from Etropole. Participants in carnival costumes walked from the Street Theatre set to the Roman Street set, passing replicas of New York, London and other film locations. Guests also toured part of the Nu Boyana Film Studios complex, where they learned about the history of the studio and its film sets.

Rositsa Mladenova, a longtime Bulgarian National Television director, lecturer at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA) and one of the festival's founders together with Acad. Hacho Boyadzhiev, told BTA that Nu Boyana Film Studios Executive Director Yariv Lerner had provided all the necessary support for hosting the event and had enabled participants to see how a professional film studio operates.

During the opening ceremony, the organisers thanked Culture Minister Evtim Miloshev, Nu Boyana Film Studios Executive Director Yariv Lerner and Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad Executive Director Rayna Mandzhukova for supporting the festival. They also expressed appreciation to Bulgarian News Agency Director General Kiril Valchev, Bulgarian National Television Director General Milena Milotinova and Bulgarian National Radio Director General Milen Mitev for the three media organisations' partnership with the festival.

One of the highlights of the opening day was the Cinema: My Love, My Song music competition. Twenty-seven performances were presented across four age and genre categories. On the opening evening, contestants performed Bulgarian songs of their choice, while the second competition day will feature songs from films.

The performances were judged by a panel chaired by BG Radio presenter Atanas Stoyanov, alongside Italian singer, composer and producer Claudio Scotti Galletta, who travelled to Sofia especially for the festival, and singer Janeta Peyna, a previous Grand Prize winner.

Addressing the participants, Stoyanov encouraged the young performers to pursue their dreams, describing music and cinema as two of the world's most powerful arts and expressing confidence that the festival would become "a real experience" for everyone involved.

Peyna, serving on the jury for the first time, told BTA she understood the contestants' emotions from personal experience and wished them luck and an enjoyable festival.

The competition featured performers in four categories: children up to the age of 10, contestants aged 11-13, contestants aged 14-18, and vocal groups and duos. Participants came from across Bulgaria, joined by a guest performer from the Serbian city of Krusevac.

Alongside the music programme, students from the M. V. Lomonosov National Vocational High School of Polygraphy and Photography operated a dedicated press centre, producing festival news bulletins using artificial intelligence and virtual news presenters. Student Zornitsa Nikolova told BTA that the school's reports would be published on the festival's YouTube channel and social media accounts.

The festival runs through July 2. Its media partners are the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and Bulgarian National Television (BNT).